During my speech at last week’s Parliamentary Assembly debate on Syria, I referenced the ongoing work of the Christian charity Open Doors. Through its ‘Save Syria’ campaign, this organisation is drawing much-needed attention to the plight of the Church in Syria. The conflict has become increasingly sectarian, and the Christian population is facing significant hostility – particularly in strategic areas like Aleppo, Damascus, and in the southern areas of the Homs.
I would encourage everyone to visit the Open Doors site to find out more about this charity’s advocacy work and the action is it taking on the ground to support Christians in Syria http://www.opendoorsuk.org
Mr NEILL (United Kingdom) – I congratulate the rapporteur on an excellent and balanced report that does the Council credit. I hope this debate also does us credit, as it has highlighted some important issues.
The situation in Syria is an enormous humanitarian tragedy. Mrs Gillan correctly highlighted the response that my government and others have taken individually, but as Mr Agramunt pointed out, the situation poses a challenge to the international community, and so far we have not delivered adequately. We have seen blatant cynicism from Russia in its position on the Security Council – we must say that frankly to our Russian friends – but we would be foolish not to recognise that there has been a degree of naiveté in the west among some proponents of the doctrine of liberal intervention in relation to the Syrian opposition. The report is particularly valuable in stressing the mosaic-like nature of Syrian society, which we have to calibrate.
Mr Hawn made the fair point that any death in civil war is horrific and unacceptable, but the use of chemical weapons by any side is a clear and blatant breach of international law, which we cannot allow to be broken without sanction. None of us wants that to take the form of military force, and we must try to deliver a political solution, which is where I hope the Council of Europe can have a genuine impact on the key players. We all hope that last week’s UN resolution and Geneva 2 will deliver. Inevitably history causes us to be at least a little sceptical about the intentions of some of the actors, but we must continue to apply pressure.
Finally, any future political solution must recognise the rights of all the communities in Syria. In particular, I want to stress the position of the Christian community, which has been treated barbarically by some elements of the opposition. We should not be naïve about the Islamic nature of many of the opposition fighters. Open Doors UK, a Christian charity, has done much to highlight that situation within my country, but it deserves wider attention. The deliberate attacks on Christian churches, the abduction and murder of priests and bishops and the desecration of Christian sites do not bode well for a genuinely pluralist Syria or middle east. We need a solution that does not result in the Arab Spring turning tragically into a winter of oppression for Christians and women in the Middle East, which is why we must come up with clear conclusions and a clear message in this debate.
Full transcripts for the Parliamentary Assembly’s Thirty-fourth sitting debate can be found here:
http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/Records/2013/E/1310031000E.htm