Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-10-12-Speech-3-186-000"
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"en.20111012.16.3-186-000"2
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"Mr President, we return tonight, without apology, to the countries of the Arab world where transition has not yet started, but where the demand for it is urgent and, sadly, deadly. As a European Union, we must heed the failure of the latest session of the UN Human Rights Council to agree the decisive action needed to provide real protection and support for the region’s democracy protestors.
Concerning Yemen, where the situation is deteriorating, full military force is now being used against peaceful protestors, yet the resolution passed in the UN fails to form any conclusion about responsibility for rights violations or to back the High Commissioner’s request to establish a presence in that country. We must heed, too, the new evidence from the World Food Programme of the starvation and hunger affecting that country.
Concerning Syria, we should note the formation of the new opposition Syrian National Council and that the High Commissioner again called for referrals to the International Criminal Court, which were not backed in the UN. Interestingly, Egypt, as well as Russia and China, sought to obstruct the commission of inquiry that was set up.
Concerning Egypt, I join with others in this debate to condemn the violence, with witness statements showing that security forces opened fire on protestors and ran them over in armoured cars. I myself have told the Egyptian Ambassador that I was present in Cairo for the constitutional referendum and welcomed the warmth and affection shown by people experiencing their first taste of genuine democracy, so I just do not accept that public opposition is a barrier to the EU mounting an electoral mission which could help entrench that democracy for the future.
Finally, I would hope that Vice-President/High Representative Ashton will also comment, in her winding-up, on the report from Amnesty International which states that peaceful protestors outside Syrian embassies in our own countries – France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK – have been threatened, intimidated and physically attacked by individuals believed to be connected to the Syrian regime. In the UN, we can do better to protect civilians in the Arab World. Here in the European Union itself, we have no excuse not to do so."@en1
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