This debate on the conflict in Syria will focus in particular on the horrific crisis in Aleppo, which is troubling Deputies on all sides of the House and many people in this country and throughout the world.
Syrian Conflict: Statements
I would like to share time with Deputy Griffin.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I thank the House for agreeing to hold this important debate. I note that just two of the 158 Members of the House are present. I have put my views on Syria on the record of this House on several occasions, most recently this morning at an Oireachtas committee meeting. It is important for all Members be given time to reflect on the widespread concern expressed by Irish citizens about the situation in Syria, particularly the siege and bombardment of Aleppo. The harrowing images on our television screens and in our print and digital media, especially the reports from Aleppo, have rightly created a sense of outrage inside the Oireachtas and across Ireland.
It is important to be absolutely clear that what is happening in Syria is a direct continuation of the events taking place there since March 2011. Assad's response to the emergence of a protest movement was to resort to the mass murder of his people. Schools, hospitals, food markets and bakeries have all been targeted for air and artillery strikes. The regime slogan was clear. The call was to side with Assad or the regime would burn the country. I do not doubt the determination of those involved. Their actions have made clear that they want to run the country or leave no country left to run. This is a regime which the United Nations commission of inquiry has accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This is a regime which has used and continues to use chemical weapons against its people. This is a regime that the UN Secretary General said was responsible for countless killings and the maiming of children as well as for the arrest, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and torture of children. This is a regime that has consistently undermined the efforts of the UN and the international community to end the conflict.
Ireland has been supportive throughout of a Syrian-owned and Syrian-led solution to the conflict. The Syrian people must have the freedom to exercise their rights, including the democratic right to choose their national leaders. These principles were set out clearly in Geneva in 2012 and have guided my interventions on Syria in Brussels and at the UN in New York, including for my address to the general assembly and at bilateral meetings with our international partners.
One regrettable aspect of the conflict is the manner in which terrorists and extremists, sometimes with support from regional actors, have coalesced and used the chaos and instability to promote their radical ideologies. The conflict has attracted violent extremists affiliated with militant groups, including Daesh, Jabhat Al-Nusra, Hezbollah and many others. On a recent visit to the Golan Heights, I was able to see clearly the parts of Syria now held by some of these Islamist factions.
In addition to Syria's long-standing divisions, we are seeing wider regional tensions being played out. Irrespective of which group is perpetrating the violence, it is the people of Syria who continue to suffer. It is appalling to see what is happening to the ordinary civilians of that country as this conflict continues to worsen. The only way to end the scourge of terrorism and extremism is by resolving the conflict through a political process and restoring the legitimacy and authority of the Syrian state across all of Syria.
I know that many Irish people are outraged at Russia's actions in Syria and its support of the Assad regime. I share this disquiet. Russia has vetoed resolutions at the UN Security Council to restrain this conflict, end the regime's illegal restrictions on humanitarian access, support efforts at a political resolution and provide legal accountability for the victims of the Syrian conflict on five occasions. Use of the Russian veto has protected the Assad regime, while repeatedly denying the Syrian people the legal protections provided under international law. I deplore this abuse of the authority which Russia enjoys at the United Nations.
The military intervention by Russia since September 2015 has been a self-declared mission to defeat terrorism. However, all the evidence is that Russia has adopted the same view of terrorism as the Assad regime, namely, that opposition to the regime amounts to terrorism. Russia has claimed that it is attacking terrorists in Aleppo. The UN special envoy, Staffan de Mistura, has said that there may be between 800 and 900 fighters in eastern Aleppo out of an estimated total population of 275,000. There is no logic in the massive attacks we have all been witnessing if the aim is to target a handful of terrorists. Hundreds of civilians in Aleppo have died. All the hospitals in eastern Aleppo have been repeatedly hit by military attacks, as have the civilian rescue services.
I do not even understand what Russia hopes to gain from the survival in power of an ally who has destroyed his country. Syria will need many years and immense funding to recover from this conflict. Russian support to Syrians other than Bashar Al-Assad has been sadly limited. The actions go far beyond what might be judged as errors or collateral damage and appear to be either reckless or deliberate and in violation of the rules of war. It is a matter of the gravest concern to me that a permanent member of the UN Security Council with a duty to the United Nations to uphold international law and the principles of the UN Charter could condone or engage in the bombardment on Aleppo. As the EU stated on Monday, this bombardment may amount to a war crime.
I wish to set out what I believe can be done to resolve this conflict and bring the agony of the Syrian people to an end. First, all sides must act immediately to restore the cessation of hostilities. Russia must use its influence on Assad to compel him to end his violence against the Syrian people. The illegal and systematic denial of humanitarian access must end. All sides must engage meaningfully in negotiations to achieve a Syrian-owned and Syrian-led political resolution based on the formation of a sovereign unity government. Finally, there must be accountability for victims of this barbarous conflict.
We count on Russia to fulfil the vital role it has chosen as a member of the international Syria support group to de-escalate the conflict and renew the political process. Today's brief pause in the bombing of Aleppo is simply not enough. Ireland stands ready to play a positive role. My EU colleagues and I spoke on Monday with the UN special envoy, Mr. de Mistura, underlining our continuing and strong support for his efforts to stem the destruction of Syria and her people. Today, the Taoiseach will be discussing the response of the European Union to the crisis and the EU approach to Russia to end this horrific violence at the European Council. I continue to press for accountability in order to provide the victims with the hope of redress and in the hope that it will deter those involved from worse atrocities. This approach has been behind our interventions at the UN in New York and Geneva. We will not let these crimes be forgotten.
There will need to be continued European and Irish support in Syria for many years to come. Ireland's response to the Syrian crisis and the plight of the Syrian people over the past five years has been unprecedented, providing more than €62 million in humanitarian assistance to Syria and the region to date. This support has been channelled through a range of partners, including NGOs, UN organisations and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, which are best placed to respond, often by linking with local civil society organisations to get aid to those most in need.
We have resettled hundreds of Syrians across Ireland, including in my home town, some of whom are survivors of torture by the Assad regime. We will accept thousands more. Together with our EU partners, we remain engaged through the EU in the international Syria support group. As I stated in my address to the United Nations last month, Ireland remains strongly committed to supporting the efforts of the United Nations to achieve both an end to the crisis and a sustainable peaceful resolution. We will reinforce this point in a debate on Aleppo at the UN General Assembly in New York today. The Syrian people continue to face great hardship and danger. Their struggle for liberty and dignity is far from over, but they can continue to count on the support of Ireland.
I thank the Minister for his remarks. I welcome this debate and I thank the Whip's office, the Business Committee and the Ceann Comhairle's office for answering my call for a debate on Syria to which all Members might contribute. It is important that all Members get an opportunity to express their complete outrage and revulsion at what is happening in Syria and the depravity unleashed on the people of that country, especially on those in eastern Aleppo, during the past five years.
This conflict has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives since the beginning of 2011. Millions have been displaced. That was a long time ago. March 2011 was when the previous Dáil was formed. For people to be living in a state of war for that long and under such horrific condition is unthinkable. Unfortunately, the savagery reported from Syria probably rivals anything in the history of human conflict. My principal fear is that, like so many other conflicts in human history, it is perhaps only afterwards that the total story will emerge. In the cases of Rwanda, Yugoslavia and the Holocaust, it was only afterwards that the full picture emerged. I truly believe that when historians look back at this decade, the conflict in Syria will be the glaring stain on this decade and era.
As a small country, sometimes our impact and influence on international events is limited. Regardless, we have a duty to do what we can do. Our obligation, as Members, is to ensure that the country is working at optimum level in this regard and that we are doing what we can do.
We have a proud record of punching well above our weight on the international scene. We need to continue that. I welcome the sentiments expressed in the Minister's statement and his efforts to date. I know he feels deeply about this matter, as do the citizens of this country. This has shocked and appalled people. We need to do what we can. I welcome the fact that we have allocated over €60 million in aid to assist victims of the conflict in and around Syria. That figure might surprise many people. It is a large sum of money and it is going to some of the most desperate people in the world. I welcome the recent allocation of additional aid that the Minister described to me in this House a week ago.
Another way to help is to make our voices and protestations heard as clearly as possible on the global stage. The role of Russia in Aleppo needs to be questioned. I welcome the fact that the Russian ambassador was called in but it is time for him to be called in again to explain what he has done since the first meeting. The Minister must demand that there be an immediate cessation of the aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo, not for eight or 11 hours over the next four days, as reported in the news today, but permanently. The weakest, most vulnerable people, children, toddlers, babies, old people, the sick and those with disabilities are the victims of the actions of the Syrian regime and Russia in eastern Aleppo. We cannot stay silent on this. I welcome our moves and actions to date but we need to continue making our voice heard.
In a response to a recent letter from Senator Ray Butler, the ambassador seemed to say that our concerns are part of a western mass media agenda. That does not appear to be the response of an ambassador who shares the concerns of the Irish people. What is the point of having an ambassador here who does not take the concerns, outrage and revulsion of the Irish Government, the people and the Dáil seriously, no matter where he comes from? Expulsion of ambassadors from countries which are complicit in war crimes should be part of our foreign policy.
I welcome the debate and look forward to hearing the views of other Members. I call on the Minister to keep up his efforts and to continue to do everything he can to help in this desperate situation, which will be viewed as a stain on this era.
I wish to share time with Deputy Lahart.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I welcome the opportunity to debate the situation in Syria. I welcome the Minister’s statement, to which I listened intently. It is a damning and trenchant statement. It would be appropriate for him to put his views and those of the Government to the Russian ambassador face to face. I met the Russian ambassador yesterday to put to him the concerns of my party and my constituents about the actions in Syria. I spent almost an hour and a half at the Russian embassy. It would be worthwhile for the Minister to do likewise. I accept that he has made public statements about the opportunities he has used to raise the concerns of the Government and the Irish people.
We have to consider the scale of what is happening in Syria. Since March 2011 over 250,000 Syrians have died in this conflict and over 1 million have been injured. Almost 5 million are displaced within the country and a further 13.5 million - among them 6 million children - are displaced outside it. It is difficult to grasp this scale, particularly in the modern era when we can see on television, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter what, for example, the doctors and the Syrian citizens in Aleppo are putting up with. To those who say we are overly critical of Russia, I say over 90% of the fatalities in Syria come from aerial bombardment. The only people who have planes in this conflict are the Syrian Government and the Russian airforce. The standing down of the Iraqi army after the second Iraq war led to the creation of Islamic State, IS, and brought about its militant views, increasing the number of Islamic terrorists in the region. The current Syrian problem happened when, after the Arab spring in 2011, a 13 year old boy was tortured, butchered and his body mutilated and returned to his family for daring to spray-paint protests about the Assad regime on a wall in Syria. Hundreds and thousands of people came onto the streets demonstrating against the brutality of the Assad regime. IS saw an opportunity and moved from Iraq to Syria where it created its caliphate. Ireland is not neutral in the fight against IS. No one could even remotely understand the level of brutality and barbarism it inflicts on innocent people, minorities and Christians. It is a disgusting group. I would not even call its members human - they are subhuman.
I agree with the Minister that our priority has got to be to do everything we can to bring about an immediate ceasefire. My party circulated to all parties a motion which it intends to move in the next week or two in Private Members' time looking for cross-party support to call for an immediate ceasefire and a condemnation of the Syrian regime and the Russian military. Others may not sign that because they do not believe it is as critical as it should be of America. The country with the most influence over the Assad regime is Russia. Assad will listen to Russia, which is hand in glove with his regime. Those on the far left and in Sinn Féin who believe our motion is too critical of Russia are missing the point. It aims to talk to the people who can influence Assad.
The eight-hour ceasefire yesterday was a start. The Russian ambassador informed me that six corridors for civilians to leave Aleppo would be opened and managed by the Russians. Two further corridors would be opened to allow what is termed the terrorists to leave. Within the group the Russians refer to as "terrorists" is the Free Syrian Army and those whom we would see as moderates and a genuine opposition to the Assad regime. We are not talking about the Al-Nusra Front or Islamic State. We are talking about people who have taken up arms against a brutal regime.
That is what we are talking about.
This debate is important. People one talks to on the streets will say that Ireland has an influence in this area. The Minister knows that. He is our Minister. We have got to work with the people as best we can to stop this horrendous humanitarian crisis, which is probably the worst in modern times. I remember the former Yugoslavia. I remember Srebrenica as a younger person. On the scale of things, this conflict is a much greater crisis and all pressure must be brought to bear to ensure it is ended as swiftly as possible. The problem is that, time and again, the Russians have used their veto at the United Nations. Zeid al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that the UN Security Council should, without further delay, adopt criteria to restrain members from using the veto when there are serious concerns that war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide have been committed. I agree with that statement. Russia has hidden behind this veto to allow what is happening on a daily basis in Syria, and it cannot be allowed to continue.
In ten, 20 or 50 years from now, how will the United Nations explain to people looking back on this the reason we stood by and allowed this conflict to happen? The roots of the problem go a long way back. I refer to the Arab Spring and everything that happened from that, and in regard to Islamic State. This is not about Islamic State. This is not about trying to topple Bashar al-Assad either. This is about trying to stop the murders of innocent men, women and children and the deliberate targeting of hospitals, schools, bakeries, medical centres and infrastructure with the heaviest weaponry, and the best and newest technology being used to inflict massive damage and to wipe Aleppo off the map. That is what is happening. They are doing that to take the pressure off the Damascus regime and ensure that Assad remains in place, but that is a debate for another day.
I appeal to the Russians, as I did yesterday when I met the ambassador, to take on board the view that the Irish Government, the Irish Parliament, the Dáil and the Seanad find this action unacceptable and that Russia can and should use the influence it has with Assad to ensure an immediate ceasefire takes place and that humanitarian aid and medical supplies can get into Aleppo.
I thank the Government for allowing this debate. I look forward to a further debate on the issue by way of a Fianna Fáil motion, which we will move within the next two weeks.
I thank my colleague, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, for sharing time. He referred to the intention to wipe Aleppo off the map, a point I will take up in my contribution because, as many people know, Aleppo is an ancient city. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. In that regard, the tragedy taking place in Aleppo is even more poignant.
Deputy Darragh O'Brien outlined some of the statistics with regard to the conflict but they are worth repeating. Before the brutal war in Syria the population was approximately 22 million, but the picture is very different now after four years of that brutal civil war. Twelve million people have been forced from their homes: that is more than half the population. Since March 2011, more than 250,000 Syrians have been killed, and more than 1 million have been injured. A total of 4.8 million Syrians have been forced to leave their country and 6.5 million are internally displaced, making Syria the largest displacement crisis globally. This year, an estimated 13.5 million people, including 6 million children, are in need of humanitarian assistance. Of those, 5.47 million are estimated to be in difficult-to-reach areas, including close to 600,000 people in 18 besieged areas. According to current figures, 11.5 million Syrians require health care, 13.5 million need protection support, 12.1 million require water and sanitation, and 5.7 million children need education support, including 2.7 million who are out of school in Syria and across the wider region. Approximately 2.48 million people are food insecure, while more than 1.5 million need shelter and household goods. That is a litany of appalling statistics.
Our own aid agency, Trócaire, has said that the reality in Aleppo is relentless bombing, dwindling supplies, including medical supplies and doctors and nurses, starvation and fear. Besiegement is not a necessary consequence of conflict, but in this case it is a deliberate policy to exhaust every coping mechanism. The Syrian Government, with Russian support, is using this brutal siege to force the surrender of fighters in eastern Aleppo by any means necessary.
The siege of Aleppo has caused an international outcry, with a number of countries and groups accusing both Syria and Russia of war crimes in connection with attacks on medical facilities and aid convoys. Syrian President Assad spoke in the past week of the need to clean Aleppo. In July this year, The Guardian of London, in an editorial article, stated:
The Syrian government and its Russian allies are resorting to a tactic of siege and starvation that has been used before in Syria, but they are now doing it on a much larger scale, and openly. Their announcement of “humanitarian corridors”, [which Deputy O'Brien spoke about] for civilians and rebels who would want to flee the area must be exposed as a cynical ruse. It is no surprise that Aleppo’s population is not rushing towards these exit corridors, which have not in any case materialised on the ground. The Assad regime’s promises are incredible. The Syrian government has demonstrated time and again how little it cares for international humanitarian law. Its machine of repression makes no distinction whatsoever between armed combatants and civilians.
In these last months, the people of Aleppo are being subjected to what, by any fair definition, must be described as a war crime. Some days ago, my party leader stated:
Civilians are not being killed accidentally because of a conflict - they are being deliberately and repeatedly targeted. This death and destruction is no accident. It is the primary strategy of the Syrian Government and the Russian military.
Posted on the AI Jazeera website some time ago were images of Aleppo taken in July 2010, and again in December 2014. In the words of a recent headline in The Irish Times, this historical city is about to disappear.
Kheder Khaddour, a senior researcher at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, stated:
Aleppo is not a goal in itself, but territorial gains are limited to the aim of fragmenting the opposition forces before any political settlement is reached. The regime and its allies know that it would be impossible to defeat the armed oppositions and reclaim all the Syrian territory. They have opted for a strategy which isolates rebel-held areas from one another. By consigning the opposition to “islands" - isolated pockets of rebel-held territory surrounded by regime-held territory - the regime makes opposition forces vulnerable to repression and siege and dependent on regime allies to access further humanitarian supplies.
Clearly, Aleppo has no strategic significance of itself, but it has been targeted for splintering and division for political purposes by the ruling regime and its allies.
The question we must ask in this House is whether we will say to Russia in particular that the barbarism it is facilitating is unacceptable. The Syrian war has become one of the worst modern day humanitarian crises. Everyone here is appalled by the conflict in Syria, and in particular in Aleppo. Realistically, what can we do? To date, only 500 refugees have been admitted to this State under the resettlement programme and under relocation, and to date we have taken just one unaccompanied minor from Syria. The slow pace is unacceptable, and the Government must step up and do more. We must honour our commitment and ensure that we provide the safest haven for those fleeing the ravages of this almighty war and conflict.
Like other speakers, I welcome the fact that two hours was set aside to allow us discuss the deteriorating situation in Syria. I want to make it clear at the outset that I am not a pacifist. Consistent with the principles of international law, I believe the use of force can be necessary sometimes as a last resort to prevent the deaths of others or the oppression of a people.
I am aware the Syrian people are extremely divided at the moment and we cannot accurately speak on behalf of the Syrian people. We also cannot fully understand the extent of the violence and destruction they are facing. We know of the conflict in our own country but what is happening in Syria is unspeakable. It is surely one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent times. There are a lot of domestic and international political forces at play and it is important at the outset to recognise that. Instead of getting bogged down in pontificating our own world view, attempting to smear other Deputies and parties and somehow questioning their humanity, I hope that in this debate, we speak as one to condemn the violence and destruction and that, as a group of Irish parliamentarians, we can in some small way help in the humanitarian response and ultimately aid and assist efforts to find a negotiated solution to the conflict.
This savage war has left approximately 8 million people displaced people inside Syria, 4.5 million refugees beyond Syrian borders, over 1 million people injured and more than 400,000 people killed. As Sinn Féin's spokesperson on foreign affairs since 2012, the war in Syria has been to forefront of my work. From the very outset of the war I have condemned the brutal reaction of the Syrian regime to the democratic protests that ultimately led to the outbreak of this conflict and I condemned the foreign interference, which has bankrolled armed groups and elongated the conflict. Long before Deputy Micheál Martin began using the suffering and violence in Syria as a political football in an attempt to smear Opposition parties, I was speaking out against Turkey and Saudi Arabia's funding, arming and support of extremist jihadist groups in Syria. I was speaking out against Russia and Iran's military support of the Syrian army and instead called on them to use their influence to broker a ceasefire and initiate a peace process. Their current actions in Aleppo and the use of barrel bombs and bunker-busting bombs on heavily populated civilian areas, including hospitals and food markets, are criminal.
When I visited Iran in January 2014 with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, I personally raised the case of the besieged Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk. I appealed to the Iranian foreign affairs Minister to use his influence to lift the Syrian army's siege of this camp and to open humanitarian corridors so that aid could reach those desperately in need of it. I have also strongly criticised the USA's decision to directly and indirectly intervene in the war. Sinn Féin also opposed the lifting of the EU arms embargo on Syria at the end of May 2013. We opposed it because we felt that flooding the country with more weapons of destruction would only cause more violence and bloodshed and not bring peace. Our political analysis has, unfortunately, stood the test of time and was correct.
So let us be clear: Sinn Féin stands in complete opposition to this war. We oppose all forms of imperialism. The aerial bombardments in Syria need to stop, as do the shootings, the mortar attacks and the tank shelling. This includes the Syrian and Russian bombardment of Aleppo and the Turkish and NATO aerial bombing of other areas of Syria, including Turkey's invasion of Syria. I cautiously welcome the pause in the bombing in Aleppo and the opening of exit corridors, though we have information today that it has broken down. While this brief respite is welcome, I echo the UN's frustration that aid has not been allowed into besieged areas. The UN has rightly stated that unilateral ceasefires after long sieges can be truly helpful only if they are combined with humanitarian access for those who do not want to leave.
I also want to strongly condemn the intensification of Turkey's military attacks and bombardment of Kurdish areas in northern Syria. Turkish jets and artillery have been bombarding areas north of Aleppo since Wednesday in a blatant attempt to attack and provoke Kurdish forces and civilians. These are the same Kurdish forces who took on and bravely fought Daesh and liberated vast areas that Daesh and its offshoots had occupied. Rather strangely, I have not heard a single EU member state condemn Turkey's attacks on these areas or on Kurdish fighters, which continue as we speak. It seems the second biggest army in NATO is beyond criticism from European capitals and European leaders.
I echo the UN's condemnation of the complete lack of adherence to the norms of international law by the warring parties in Syria. Syrians, like people all over the world, have a right to live in peace free from fear, attack, foreign mercenaries and outside interference. They also have a right to democracy and the highest standards of human rights. The real and only way to stop the conflict is through inclusive dialogue and round-table peace talks that have the potential and credibility to lead to a real peace process. World leaders need to use their influence and diplomacy to secure a ceasefire and bring all sides in this civil war to the table for discussions on a peace process with credible outcomes. World leaders should be rational and smart enough to know their bombs will not bring peace to Syria. They cannot bomb Syria into peace. Their military interventions will not help establish democracy and respect for human rights in the country. Darkness cannot drive out darkness - only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate - only love can do that. These were the words of Martin Luther King.
The images and videos that we have all seen are truly disturbing and heartbreaking. Two of the most powerful images have been of Omran Daqneesh and Alan Kurdi. Omran, a five year old boy from Aleppo, was photographed sitting in an ambulance, shocked and bleeding after an air strike from Syrian or Russian planes hit his family home. His ten-year old brother died from injuries he sustained in this brutal attack. It deeply showed the human price of this brutal war. There are many more like him stuck in Syria today, scared, frightened and praying for an end to this brutal war that has robbed them of their childhood.
Alan Kurdi was a three-year-old Syrian Kurd who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea as he tried to escape this same violence and destruction and find sanctuary in Europe. The image of his lifeless body, washed up on the beach, brought immediate mass outpourings of grief and shame in Europe, but how has the EU handled the refugee situation since that awful death? Many of the countries that have been most opposed to taking in refugees, which have put up fences and razor wire, are the same countries which are directly involved in this war. Some are the main providers of weapons and are making huge profits from providing this death and destruction. That is the shame of Europe. We know that when there are huge increases in aerial bombardments there will be huge increases in those fleeing these areas and seeking protection in Europe. The countries that have supplied the weapons that have forced these people to flee are the same ones telling them they are not welcome and to go back to their destroyed country.
Ireland should be a leader in its response to the refugee situation. We should be a leader in assisting the humanitarian response in Syria and neighbouring countries but we should also be opening our country to the vulnerable and desperate refugees that are fleeing Syria.
Only 69 Syrians have come to Ireland from Greece, and no Syrians have arrived here from Italy. That is embarrassing, shameful and wrong. I believe we can do more. We have the support of the vast majority of Irish people, but they want to know how we will manage these refugees. It is important that we explain to the people how we will do that. We have had significant amounts of incredibly generous support from the Irish public to house and support refugees. The Government needs to be up-front about how it is responding to the refugee crisis, and involving communities and NGOs, not hiding refugees in hotels or direct provision centres on the outskirts of towns.
Ireland has a part to play in increasing international pressure to end the war, but we also have humanitarian and moral responsibilities to be a leader in responding to the refugee crisis, and this is where we can make a real difference.
In September 2015, the Government committed to taking a total of 4,000 displaced persons by way of resettlement, particularly from Lebanon, and relocation from the front-line states, Greece and Italy, through the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, IRPP, and yet by the end of September 2016 only 486 refugees had been resettled and only 69 had been relocated. I asked today for a note of explanation from the Minister because people are asking us what the problem is. The system is broken but we cannot explain. I have listened to Ministers and others try to explain, but we are not getting those answers.
The International Organization for Migration, IOM, has reported that the number of refugees arriving in Europe has fallen sharply this year but routes have grown more deadly. From January to the end of September 3,501 refugees died trying to enter Europe. That is nearly a 20% increase on the same period last year.
Four adults and a child were found inside a container in Rosslare port on Sunday night. Thankfully, it is reported that they are healthy and are not seriously harmed from their harrowing journey. They are apparently Kurds from Iraq who were fleeing persecution and have requested asylum in Ireland. This shows the stark and urgent need to implement safe and legal routes for refugees to get protection in Ireland. Sadly, under the Dublin regulations, they probably will not be allowed stay in Ireland. The asylum system is broken and must be urgently fixed. That is the note I will end on in relation to Syria - our system for helping many of those who are fleeing the conflict in Syria is broken and we need to fix it.
The now six year old conflict in Syria is the world's gravest humanitarian crisis since the Second World War. The numbers are easy to throw out but difficult to grasp: 8 million displaced people inside Syria, 4.5 million people under siege or inaccessible, 4.5 million refugees beyond the Syrian borders, 1.5 million people injured and 250,000 people killed.
Syria has become a free-for-all, in an open house. Parties involved in the war there have received political, military and operational support from Russia, Iran, North Korea, Algeria, Iraq, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and others. We have seen the Syrian Administration's barbaric treatment of its own population. We are seeing large-scale breaches of international humanitarian and human rights law. In particular, we see civilian populations exposed to indiscriminate attack, loss of life and the destruction of essential infrastructure services and basic medical care. This breaches all of the rules established well over 100 years ago by the Red Cross and Red Crescent. It breaches all of the basic rules of humanity's treatment and what we know about these kinds of situations and how to help, in particular, the civilians caught in this war.
The Labour Party joins other parties in the Dáil in calling, at a minimum, for compliance with the humanitarian rules of warfare and for aid agencies to be allowed reach civilians in desperate need of help in Aleppo. There has been some progress with the announcement from Russia to the United Nations that it will stop bombing eastern Aleppo for 11 hours a day for four days, but that is not nearly enough. There needs to be time and space to organise a full-scale medical evacuation and the provision of medical support, and a deal is needed to permit UN aid convoys to move from western Aleppo and from Turkey, to get food into the besieged zones.
Syria is rightly understood as being one of the cradles of human civilisation, particularly in the western world, the known world and the pre-Christian world. One is talking about a country with a great ancient civilisation reduced to rubble and laid low.
Apart from the immediate humanitarian aspects of this crisis, it has another dimension I want to mention because it touches us all in Europe. I refer to the fact that the mounting tensions between the US and Russia have stymied United Nations and other efforts to broker a ceasefire. Worse, even if the US and Russia are not on the brink of direct conflict over Syria, the world seems to be well on the way towards entering a new Cold War. Indeed, relations between Russia and the United States have not been so bad in a generation, since the end of the Cold War. Both countries now have a vital role in resolving the Syrian conflict, but they are at odds in their analysis and they profoundly mistrust each other's motives and intentions. There can be no dialogue between them without some basic level of trust and understanding.
In truth, the dispute between them has little enough to do with Syria. Russia believes that it has been treated unfairly since the 1990s, that, unlike its smaller neighbours, it was never welcomed into a new community of nations but remained instead the principal focus of Western distrust. One can put it down to US over-reach and insensitivity, to Russian nostalgia for Soviet greatness or, most likely, to a mixture of both. Russia still claims Washington betrayed a promise when German unity was being negotiated that NATO would not take advantage of this opportunity and expand eastwards. We know that the West Germans made such a promise to Gorbachev, and that when President George H. Bush heard about this, he said, "To hell with that!", and "We prevailed, they didn't. We can't let the Soviets clutch victory from the jaws of defeat."
Whatever about who promised what, the facts are that NATO has added 12 eastern European countries since then, in three rounds of enlargement. In 1999, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined against strong Russian opposition. Then came Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The three new Baltic states had formerly been part of the USSR itself. Most recently, Albania and Croatia signed up to NATO membership. NATO has also officially recognised four aspiring members: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia and Montenegro.
This incorporation into NATO of countries formerly in the eastern bloc has been a major cause of increased tension between East and West, as we knew it would be back in 1990.
Arguably, the subsequent aggression against Georgia and Ukraine, and now Syria, was fuelled at least in part by ongoing resentment about continuing NATO expansion to the very borders of Russia. Although Russia was left on the periphery of a post-Cold War Europe, it has fought its way back. For a time it retreated from the world stage, but now it is back with a vengeance, and eager to restore a global role. It is extraordinarily knowledgeable and has very deep ties with countries like Syria and the whole region. On the other hand, the West prefers to focus on current Russian revanchism, on the stance of Mr. Putin, who described the collapse of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century.
I quoted earlier the analysis of George H. Bush, whose reputation is as one of the more thoughtful members of his family, and the quality of analysis deteriorated subsequently. The "end of history" people, on both sides of the US congressional aisle, trumpeted the victory of western ideology and economics - they seemed incapable of distinguishing between the two. There was the simplistic notion that, when it came to the Middle East, all the West had to do was to guide the aims and goals of the Arab Spring, directing it towards an inevitable western style liberal democracy. That analysis has proven to be totally disastrous. Looking at Syria, it is a country very rich in resources, with an enormously well-educated population, as we know from the stories that have been recounted of the different refugees. I am sure all of us have met people from Syria, many of whom now live in my constituency. We can also look at Iraq, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
At this stage there is not much point in allocating blame between the initial strategic errors of the West and Moscow’s more recent aggression in Georgia, Syria and Ukraine. At this stage people are displaced, disappearing and dying in their tens of thousands. It seems clear that Russia can and will use its role to shape a variety of conflict zones around the world.
I would like to be able to assert with some confidence that the leadership in Russia and in Syria will some day be called to account for their war crimes against civilians but in an increasing bipolar world is there any point in claiming such a thing when the United States has yet to submit to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court?
In a world where all onlookers are again being herded into taking sides in the conflict between these two superpowers and where many in the EU are again stressing their connections to NATO, our function as a neutral country is to remain unaligned and to insist that the EU's foreign and security policy is framed and acted on in a genuinely independent way, highlighting the shared values of European countries and of European civilisation historically with all the countries of the Near and Middle East and rejecting any siren call to become involved in the struggle between two hegemonies for global dominance. We must use all available diplomatic means and forums to raise this issue. We have to co-operate with like-minded states in the European Union and in the UN. We have to work towards an end to aerial bombardment, a genuine cessation of violence, an internationally enforced no-fly zone and humanitarian aid access throughout that country.
I worked in many post-conflict zones long before I became a Deputy. I worked with people who worked in refugee camps, particularly in Africa, following what happened in the Horn of Africa 20 and 30 years ago and what happened in Rwanda. Ireland has played, and is playing, a very significant role and is being of significant help in designing humanitarian relief that will bring relief to the people who need it. We are doing that quite proudly as a non-aligned, neutral country, being neutral militarily but a member of the European Union. Neutrality does not mean we are indifferent but it puts us in a fairly powerful position to be an influencer for the good in what is truly a dreadful situation, notwithstanding the fact Ireland is a small country.
I was very happy that the previous Government, of which I was a member, reached agreement with the Taoiseach last year - he has confirmed and upheld this on a number of occasions - that over a few years Ireland would receive approximately 4,000 people who have been driven out of their country and have become refugees as a consequence of the conflict. I reiterate something the people often do not understand. Almost all the people who are refugees from a war zone want to go back home, provided they have a home to return to. It takes time to pick up the pieces in a post-conflict situation but most people go home, provided they have some place to return to.
In offering protection and shelter to 4,000 people, I said at the time, and I say it again now, we should offer assistance to families with children, in particular. Children are very vulnerable. A great number of people are living in tents along various borders in different parts of Europe. We have taken on a responsibility in regard to people in Italy and in Greece. Through various agencies, such as Goal, Trócaire and other development agencies with a strong presence in Ireland, a good deal of work is being done but, clearly, it is not nearly enough.
In fairness to the Ministers involved, they have been working to identify the people who will come to Ireland but what is wrong that it is not possible to identify these people who are facing into a very cold winter? Many people have walked hundreds of miles. They are not in good shape. Members with medical backgrounds will know it is not a great recipe for avoiding pneumonia, whether among small children, older people, pregnant women or people who have previously been ill. Just as we have seen the Naval Service reach out in the Mediterranean and do a job of which we are all very proud, we can encourage the people in the EU in this regard. The bureaucracy appears to most right-thinking people to be pretty monstrous. There is much politicking involved in that bureaucracy but it is our job to try to solve it.
It is possible to expand the aid budget further. I am sure the Minister would be willing to do that. There was only a very minor change in the budget but if we can identify and bring some of the people out of the difficulties they are in, in turn many of those people will return home when this conflict has ended to rebuild what we all hope to see, a new and peaceful Syria.
When I proposed that we would have this debate in the absence of the Bill from Fianna Fáil, I did so in order to allow this House to reflect on what the people and the Government can do in terms of intervening in a conflict that is utterly horrendous. Words fail me in describing the barbarity of what has gone, and continues to go, on in Syria on a daily basis. I was disgusted by the response of the leader of Fianna Fáil in accusing us of being Russian apologists.
In one way it was slightly amusing because we are normally accused of being Trotskyites, which is supposed to be an even dirtier word than Russian apologist. Trotsky was the one person who stood out and led a movement against Stalin and the barbarism of the Soviet Union in its heyday, and he ended up with an ice pick through his head for his efforts. It is ironic that we are accused of that on the one hand and called Russian apologists on the other.
In his opening statement, the Minister, Deputy Charles Flanagan, said, "We have resettled hundreds of [refugees] ... We will accept thousands more." I have to ask the Minister the obvious question. When will this happen? This conflict has gone on for five years. The Mediterranean has been turned into an open graveyard. Many of the Deputies in this House have visited various refugee camps. I was in refugee camps in Athens during the summer. I met people from Aleppo who would have a huge amount to offer this country. They are mathematicians, scientists, teachers, nurses and all sorts of people with their children who would love to come to Ireland but were not asked to come. They were asked to fill out forms according to European Union regulations and were given options of various countries. Most of them had never heard of Ireland. Nobody from Ireland is going around asking them if they would like to come to our country except for the odd visitor like me. Most of them are being asked if they will go to Germany, Turkey and elsewhere. We have to make a concerted effort to open our doors to those refugees. That is all I will say on that issue. We should probably revisit it again.
I direct my comments on this to the question of clarity and what is happening in Syria. I have had history lessons and heard a lot of different opinions in this House. Deputy Darragh O'Brien said the only people with planes and bombs in this conflict are the Assad regime and Russia. That should be put to bed straight away. In July, 140 civilians, including children, were killed by American and French bombs from the sky in a town called Toukhan Al-Kubra. It was not the first time and it probably will not be the last that French and US military were used to bomb civilians in this conflict. The emphasis is rightly on Aleppo now. Nobody is more appalled by the treatment of the people of Aleppo than those of us on this side of the House who started out at the beginning of the Arab Spring by declaring our complete support for that uprising. We have consistently continued to do so. The uprisings in Syria, Tunisia and Egypt, which spread like wildfire through the Arab populations, gave us hope for the first time in over a century that somehow the Middle East could regain its respect and decency on the planet. It has been used as a football by every regime from America, Britain, France, Germany, Turkey and Israel. It has been used as a political, strategic and economic football which has culminated in the conflict in Syria. It goes right back to the division of the region after the First World War but, most important, it started with the invasion of Iraq by George W. Bush which hundreds of thousands of people in this country and millions across the planet protested against. We were called over the top and hysterical when we said this would not stop at Iraq, that it would spread the conflict, increase sectarianism and give an excuse for regional powers and strategic interests to invade and infest many countries with their rotten murderous machines. This is what is being played out in Syria. It is the military intervention of imperialist powers who are conducting a proxy war in the Syrian region. It is the people of that region who are suffering very dearly for it. We should be telling the international community to stop selling arms to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the rotten, despotic regimes arming groups engaging in the conflict internally, to stop the bombing on all sides by the US and France and to stop lying.
This is not just about Russia and Russia's role in it. It is about international imperialist interference in the situation. They should cease fire, get the hell out and leave the Syrian people to sort out their own issues. If they had done that in the first place, we may have had a chance to support ideologically, from the outside and with humanitarian aid, those who were prepared to stand up to the Assad regime and those who engaged in the Arab Spring. We are now in the horrors of a really desperate conflict which is continuing. The Minister should be doing three fundamental things: calling for a halt to the sale of arms, opening the doors to the refugees, and stopping the use of Shannon Airport for military planes and personnel to land and refuel, which assists them in carrying out whatever functions they carry out, whether in Mosul, Syria or beyond. It has to stop. It has been a demand of the population of this country in maintaining our neutrality. Neutrality is not just a word; it is also actions. Our actions in continuing to allow the use of Shannon Airport in such a way fly in the face of neutrality.
If we remember the enthusiasm of David Cameron to roll into Syria and bomb the bejesus out of it when the conflict started, this will be a reminder that it is not just about Russia but about the imperial interest of the West which it has always had in the region and which it continues to have. It is about influence, power and the dynamism of the big powers of this world. The one power we have something to say about and could influence is that of Saudi Arabia, which is engaged in a terrible conflict in Yemen. It is not that long ago that we flew the flag at half mast for the Saudi king when he died. Let us fly the flag at half mast for the Syrians who are being butchered every day. Let us open the borders, let them in and let them work, live and contribute to this society. As was said by the previous Deputy, some day they will be able to go home to a country they love which was once beautiful and peaceful. Until we do that, we are talking through both sides of our mouth.
What is happening daily in Aleppo can only be described as an ongoing atrocity. Four hundred people were killed in September, which amounts to 13 people a day. It is an atrocity being carried out by Russia and the Putin regime with the aim of prolonging the existence of a brutal dictatorship that does not have the support of the majority of the population. This is the aim of the Russian intervention in general and it is having some success. What is happening is horrific and has to be condemned.
Aleppo is emblematic of the nightmare facing the Syrian people in general. Its people are torn apart with three different levels of conflict playing out on the ground. There is a sectarian conflict that exists across the Middle East and is fuelled by imperialist intervention going back to 2003 and slightly before. There is a battle of different regional powers - Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Yemen all intervening with their own mechanism to do so. There is also conflict between major imperialist powers on a world scale - Russia, the US, France and other European powers. On the one hand, there is Russia backing the Assad regime and on the other hand, western powers are backing and indirectly funding what are often jihadist groups dressed up as moderate groups because they know that is what has to be done to access funding.
The victims in all of this, as always in war, are the ordinary people. It is incredible that 470,000 people have been killed in the past five years in Syria. The number of internally displaced people is between 7 million and 11 million out of a population of 22 million. It is the destruction of a country and society by this conflict. It is people who are always the victims.
I will take a moment to deal with an accusation that has been made twice and in a more muted form today, particularly by Deputy Micheál Martin, that Anti-Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit Deputies are Russian apologists and are soft on Russia. If Deputy Martin knew anything about our position on Syria, he would know that does not hold any water. We have been very clear from the start about our opposition to the Assad regime, our support for those rising up against Assad and our opposition and condemnation of Russian imperialism and intervention.
The only explanation is that it is an utterly hypocritical intervention and a cheap attempt to score political points against his opponents on the left. I looked up the number of times I spoke about Russia and condemned Putin in the European Parliament when I was a Member thereof. In December 2011, I spoke about the mass protests in Russia against rigged elections, referencing my comrades in Russia who are dealing with extremely difficult and repressive circumstances in fighting against the Putin regime. In September 2012, I condemned the imprisonment of the members of Pussy Riot and in October 2013 I condemned the detention of the Arctic 30 Greenpeace activists in Russia. In December 2013, I spoke out on the Russian intervention in Ukraine and in February 2014 I spoke on the repression of LGBT people in Russia. Also in that month I spoke out against what was happening at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, as well as the homophobia and exploitation that takes place in Russia. I also checked the number of times Fianna Fáil MEPs spoke out on what was happening in Russia during that period. The total was zero.
Members of Fianna Fáil discovered this issue recently in order to make cheap political points against people on the left. Why are they doing this? It might be that they just do not know these things and Deputy Martin does not know what our political position is. That is possible but I do not believe it is likely. There are two issues here. One is that Deputy Martin - who was a member of a Government that was closely aligned with US imperialism and that facilitated the use of Shannon Airport for the invasion of Iraq - is offended by the fact that not only do we oppose what is happening in and condemn the bombardment of Aleppo, the acts of Russian imperialism and the fact that 13 people are dying there each day, we also oppose what is happening in Yemen, where 13 people per day are dying as a result of Saudi Arabian airstrikes. Saudi Arabia is one of the main recipients of US aid, including military aid, and is clearly an ally of the US. It is given at least the implicit support of the US in those actions. We also oppose the aerial bombardment of Mosul, in Iraq, that is currently taking place. The problem is that we do not accept that just because one opposes Russian imperialism, one must take the side of western imperialism. It is possible to say that one is opposed to all the different imperialist forces and take the side of ordinary people, be they Kurds, Palestinians or the ordinary people in Syria who are struggling for democratic rights.
The other striking issue is that, for whatever reason - and this is dangerous because his party could be in government at some time - Deputy Martin has taken the decision to hitch Fianna Fáil to the bandwagon of rising tension and conflict between the west and Russia. That tension is occurring globally. There is talk, some of it overblown, of the prospect of a new Cold War, but clearly tensions are rising significantly. They are rising not because western powers care about the humanitarian actions of Putin or his lack of democracy but for geopolitical interests or reasons. The Deputy has decided to do that in line with the Tory party in Britain, and it is extremely dangerous to try to contribute to that rising conflict.
The fundamental problem here is imperialism. It is correct to state that it is due to all the different imperialist interventions, post-11 September 2001, in Afghanistan and Iraq and the nightmare that has been created in the Middle East as a result, in which the Irish Government at that time, including Fianna Fáil, was complicit. However, one can go back further to the Sykes-Picot agreement and the drawing of lines in the Middle East to create artificial states deliberately containing national and ethnic minorities, in order to play the game of divide and rule for the benefit of western imperialist powers in terms of access to oil and resources. Over and over again, it is ordinary people who have suffered. There is an alternative. It involves an end to imperialist intervention, landlordism and capitalism in the region, and using the resources that exist for the benefit of ordinary people.
It would have been very difficult for Ireland to play a role in Syria. However, most independent neutrals would say that we could do two positive things. First, we could help those fleeing the conflict and, second, we could stay neutral. Sadly, we perform poorly in both areas. We have been more reluctant than other European countries to take in refugees. We have been slower, we do not appear to have an appetite for it and we put very little energy into it, given the results. Only one unaccompanied minor has arrived in this country in two years. It beggars belief.
With regard to staying neutral, in 2001 we facilitated the American invasion of Afghanistan by giving its forces the use of Shannon Airport for military purposes. We also gave America the use of that airport for military purposes in Iraq in 2003. There were problems in Afghanistan before the Americans invaded, but they became 100 times worse when they did. There were also problems in Iraq before the Americans invaded, but they also became 100 times worse after that. It is estimated that over 2 million civilians have died in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001. Almost 400,000 have been killed in Syria, which is nothing short of horrific. Libya had problems before the western powers decided to invade, bomb the living daylights out of it and make it far worse.
We all agree that what Assad has done is horrific and what Russia is doing at present is horrific. However, where was the outcry when the US, France and Britain decided to arm the so-called moderate rebels in Syria? Where was the outcry when the same countries decided to start bombing Syria in September 2014? Did we have to wait for the Russians to start bombing it in September 2015 before we got angry? At one stage 15 countries were bombing Syria - Australia, Bahrain, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Jordan, Canada, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UK, the US and Russia. Iran was also involved. What was it for? The western forces have played a huge role in flooding Syria with arms.
Where is the outcry about Yemen today? A total of 3,500 civilians have been killed in Aleppo recently by Assad's forces and the Russians. It is unthinkable. However, 10,000 civilians have died in Yemen in the last year. It is a mad war. The US is supporting Saudi Arabia in a mad war, but I have not heard Fianna Fáil give out about it yet. I am surprised. What is wrong with its members?
The Deputy has not been listening.
The US has delivered cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia, some of them through Shannon Airport, to be used in Yemen. The bombs are still legal in the US, but it has different laws. There is international law and American law and they are very different.
When will we take a neutral position? We cannot stay silent when one side is doing something bad and wait until the other side does something bad. Let us be straight. Let us stop using Shannon Airport, a civilian airport, as a military airport. Let us stop being complicit in the murder of civilians and in the creation of refugees. When arms, munitions and troops go through Shannon Airport, some of the munitions are bombs which are dropped on people's homes, making them flee their land and communities and end up in Europe as refugees. We then do not want to let them in, even though we let the Americans in to use Shannon Airport in the first place.
This is a small nation. We could play a positive role as a neutral country.
We could say "No" to what the Americans or Russians are doing. What about Palestine and Israel? How can we be so silent about the destruction of Palestine and the genocide that is taking place there? That is what it is. There is so much silence in here from the established parties on it.
That is not true.
It is horrific. Who was calling for a boycott of Israel? Was anyone giving out about the Americans supplying extra arms to Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia? Al-Nusra is becoming a more powerful force than ISIS and is being armed by Saudi Arabia, which is being armed by the Americans. Al-Nusra is using American weapons. Maybe the Government should talk to them about it.
I have no hesitation in saying on the record that I condemn the atrocities that are happening in Syria perpetrated by the Syrian Governments and the Russians. However, the comments made by the leader of Fianna Fáil are both infantile and dangerous. He said that we do not want to condemn Russia or to say that this has arisen from one particular source. That is to simplify matters in a most dangerous way. As a woman, I am outraged by the killing of people, including women and children, in Syria. I believe every person in this Chamber is outraged but there is an onus on us to question and lead. I agree with the comments by Deputy Wallace and others in respect of acting as a neutral country, using our moral power to call for a ceasefire and not taking sides but condemning the violence on both sides. The US is in there funding and arming what are known as the rebels.
I agree with some of the Minister's speech. He pointed out that Syria is a sovereign country and should have the right to make its own decisions and I fully agree with him on that. However, there is no sense of urgency in this Chamber or in Europe. I understand that this is the first time that Syria has been discussed despite the fact that the war is in its sixth year. Once again, we have been forced by the people of Ireland who want us to lead and stand up and who say in the e-mails we have received that they want a ceasefire and for us to do everything in our power to help bring it about and then hold the Government to account for the 4,000 refugees at a minimum that we promised to take in. The Minister has not explained to us why we have not taken those 4,000 refugees. He referred in general terms to hundreds of refugees being taken in. We promised to take in 4,000. As I speak, our Taoiseach and the other leaders of Europe are having dinner in Brussels tonight and will discuss, among other topics, the slaughter in Syria from the point of view of what to do about Russia and without recognising the complicit role played by Europe and the US, particularly the invasion of Iraq. I was one of the 100,000 people who went onto the streets and begged the Government to listen but it did not.
It is indisputable that all sides of the House condemn the role of the Assad regime. Before the war, that regime ruled by terror, brutality, torture and murder. The regime's response to peaceful demonstrations was a declaration of war on a significant section of its own people. Aleppo is a city that has been totally laid to the ground and is like Ground Zero in New York. It will be gone by Christmas. Putin's gangster capitalist regime stands indicted. The indiscriminate bombing, bunker bombs in civilian areas, deliberate targeting of infrastructure to destroy water supplies, deliberately targeting of hospitals and siege tactics to disrupt and deny food, water and medical facilities to civilians are all war crimes. Other parties indicted include Daesh or ISIS and the Al-Nusra Front who are also guilty of war crimes. They are forces that want to take society back to the Middle Ages. Where they have succeeded in taking territory, particularly Daesh, they have unleashed barbaric horror on the civilian population. Those using this conflict to fight a proxy war for influence and domination in the wider Middle East are also indicted. These parties include Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and, of course, the old reliables still playing Great Power politics - Great Britain, France, Russia and the US.
It is easy to stand up in this Chamber and condemn those involved in the conflict but what can we do to deal with them? We have to be neutral. That is the message coming out of this Chamber and the Minister should take that on board. All sides in the conflict should abide by international human rights law and put an end to all forms of bombing in Syria. The Irish Government should formally make known to all governments that have engaged in the bombing of Syria the Irish people's revulsion at their actions. The Irish Government should support the call from Prince Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, for the UN Security Council to adopt without further delay criteria to restrain members from using the veto when there are serious concerns that war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide may have been committed. The situation in Syria should be referred to the International Criminal Court. We must stop the use of Shannon Airport as a military airport and stop arms being sold to these countries.
I have one point to make about the 4,000 refugees we have committed to taking in. We have taken in only ten members of a family under that EU relocation programme. This must be moved on very quickly and we must nail our colours to the mast and take those women, children and families into this country who want to come here. We must actively engage in that.
We used to have a reputation around the world as a country that small nations suffering oppression would look to be a voice on their behalf in the UN. That was a very proud record. Over the past ten or 15 years, we have decided to undo that record and undo the esteem in which we have been held by small countries around the world. We have done that by allowing Shannon Airport to be used as a military air base, by signing up to a common European defence and foreign policy and by making ourselves subservient to the dominant European decisions made by France, Germany and the UK and saying it is a common policy to which we all sign up. Where has our independence gone? Where is our independent stance in the world in terms of what is right and wrong?
There is no doubt that what Russia and the Syrian Government are doing to the Syrian people is wrong and appalling but, as has been said by other Members here, 15 countries have been involved in bombing Syria but it is only after Russia and the Syrian Government get involved that we get on our high horses and get indignant about it. This is a sad reflection on the state of this country and our so-called foreign policy. It is as if it is okay when the good guys do the killing but it is not okay when someone we do not like or someone the US tells us we do not like does it as well. That is the impression created here. I do not think we should all preface our remarks by saying that we condemn what Russia and Assad are doing because we all do but we also condemn what is being done in our names by 15 other countries that have bombed civilians across Syria.
Since June, 164 civilians and 44 children have been killed in coalition bombing raids. There has not been an ounce of condemnation by the Government or Fianna Fáil here about that. A couple of weeks ago, the Saudi Arabian Government killed 140 people by bombing a funeral in Sana'a in Yemen but that was an accident so that is okay. When the Americans bomb hospitals in Kabul, that is an accident and that is okay as well, even though Médecins Sans Frontières staff in the hospitals were in contact with the Americans telling them they were bombing civilian targets, yet they continued to bomb them. That, too, is okay and not a word is heard from our Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade or our Government.
That is the problem with this motion tonight. We are taking sides in this conflict. We should be neutral and standing up for the defenceless countries. It is what we had a history of doing until we became a proxy military base for the US.
The civil war in Syria has developed into an humanitarian crisis and a catastrophic situation for the civilian population. This is most apparent in Aleppo. This conflict has become a theatre of war in which Russia and other states are sponsoring and supplying either side. Some of the sponsors are also being supplied with US military equipment. The area has become a regional and international theatre of war. How can this be? Some of the EU states are half-hearted in their condemnation of Russia and Russian-sponsored bombing in support of Bashar al-Assad's regime. The US and EU sanctions must be strengthened. We must make greater efforts to put pressure on Russia and other international players to stop the conflict.
I will address the medical and humanitarian aspects of the conflict. The bombing of Aleppo is disproportionate and indiscriminate. Hospitals, medical personnel, schools and residential areas are all being targeted. It is unheard of in war and is completely unacceptable. To attack non-combatants, medical and civilian, must amount to a war crime. Last week, 14 members of the same family, including eight children, were killed in an air strike. Syria is the seat of civilisation. It was the seat of language, science, astronomy and art. Yet, it has been subjected to a completely unacceptable and savage war. The carnage in Aleppo is all the more unbelievable when one considers that Bashar al-Assad is a medical doctor, trained in Damascus and London less than 30 years ago. This is a blight on the medical profession, given the ethical and moral values which doctors receive during their training. The principle of all medical practice is first, do no harm, primum non nocere. Doctors have been involved in other very serious war crimes. Radovan Karadži, a psychiatrist, was responsible for the massacre of 8,000 men and boys in Srebrenica on 11 July 1995. Dr. Josef Mengele and 350 of his colleagues were involved in medical experimentation which was part of the holocaust to exterminate Jews. In Syria, Bashar al-Assad and his allies are bombing fellow doctors and their facilities in Aleppo. It is shocking to the point of disbelief.
Every war ends some time and in every conflict there are winners and losers. However, in every conflict the civilians are the losers either by collateral damage or, as in Aleppo, because they are specifically targeted, along with medical personnel. It is completely unacceptable. Mosul may become the new Aleppo. Every conflict ends in exhaustion, common sense or crippling hardship for the defeated. Unfortunately, it looks like Aleppo will end with the latter. All sides claim to have their god on their side, yet no god could condone what is happening in Aleppo.
Although Ireland has no economic or military power, it is a peacekeeping nation without a colonial past. It has respected moral and diplomatic standing among the nations of the world, and we must bring this important leverage to bear on ending the conflict to bring the genocide to an end. We must use our diplomatic expertise, which we have earned since the foundation of the State, to end the conflict. We must also accept, as rapidly as possible, refugees from Syria. We must take them to a place of safety so they can return to their nation when the conflict is over. We need to take them from the area of conflict, bring them in, keep them safe, look after them and return them to their country at the end of the conflict. It is extremely important.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. We could say we should have had the debate some time ago. We have taken our time in raising it in the House. It is not before time that people have the opportunity to give their views. The most urgent thing we need to do is to demonstrate Ireland's strong support for the people of Syria and to condemn unreservedly the indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force by the Russian air force and Syrian army on the citizens of Aleppo. Over the past five years, there have been 17 major peace initiatives aimed at addressing the violence in Syria. The result is close to 5 million refugees, 8 million internally displaced people and 400,000 dead. Efforts to achieve a sustainable peace must continue and be redoubled and the international community must accept its share of the responsibility for the ongoing conflict. Ireland must also play our part in pushing for such a road map to peace, particularly at EU level.
If we have learned anything from Northern Ireland it is that building peace is not an easy process and requires great patience and compromise. It requires ongoing effort. Our Government, on behalf of the country, must be much more vocal. We must begin a dialogue internationally on the responsibility to protect and the role we would play in such a principle. The security of vulnerable regions of the world cannot be solely in the lap of Russia and the United States. Yet, with each new report of the atrocities occurring within Syria, and particularly the humanitarian crisis which has taken hold in Aleppo, it is clear that these are primarily academic discussions, removed from the immediate reality of the impact of this conflict on so many people's lives. If future peace initiatives continue to face the same challenges which have hindered previous attempts, the international community's response must be focused on securing the conditions necessary for an effective humanitarian response to take place. In the immediate term, the greatest contribution Ireland can make is to focus our efforts on alleviating the suffering of the civilian populations, both inside Syria and among those who have fled.
One of the greatest failings in the history of our State was our indifference to the refugee crisis that resulted from the Second World War. We cannot allow ourselves to repeat the mistakes of our past by standing by as a crisis of the same scale continues to unfold and simply say that something should be done. Every support must be given to the Irish refugee protection programme to ensure that, at a minimum, we meet our target of accepting 4,000 refugees into the State by the end of the year. There was a commitment to do it, but progress has been extremely slow. It is shameful and embarrassing that we have not delivered on the commitment. There is a groundswell of opinion in the House, expressed today. Members of the public are seeing the scenes in Aleppo and Mosul on their television screens every night and they feel helpless and disappointed that the international community has not been capable of responding adequately to the crisis. At a minimum, they expect us to deliver on the commitments we have made on taking refugees, which are minor. We should not drag our heels any longer.
It must be remembered that there are still approximately 57,000 people living in camps in Greece, many of whom are Syrians. Recent reports suggest that the number of refugees and migrants making the journey across the Aegean Sea is increasing once more due to the recent instability in Turkey. According to reports in Der Spiegel, however, there are only nine officers making decisions about the applications of 6,000 people on Lesbos. Despite the EU's announcement that it would send hundreds of asylum experts to Greece, only three dozen officials have arrived on the islands according to the Greek Government. What are we doing about this? What attempts have been made to raise this matter at European level? Why are we not more vocal on it?
In September, more refugees arrived on the Greek islands each day than migrants were deported in the entire month. In light of this, we must review the number of refugees whom we are accepting to ensure we are doing our part. There is a significant number of Syrians in Ireland. Many of them have contacted their public representatives, including Deputies. They are at their wits' end concerning family members. They cannot understand why we are not taking more immediate action and doing our part to support refugees.
I remain deeply concerned about the current arrangement with Turkey, particularly in light of recent events in that region. We must work with our European partners to achieve a sustainable alternative in the processing of displaced people. We may not be able to end the Syrian conflict, but it is surely within our grasp to raise this issue at every opportunity at European level, accept our share as a developed and relatively wealthy country and provide a safe haven for the many refugees who desperately need it.
It is deeply disturbing that, more than 100 years since the start of the First World War, nothing seems to have changed. The big game still plays out. There are different views of history, but Britain's fear of Russia moving south to cut off the former's access to the east was one of the factors that created the conditions that led to the lunacy of the First World War. Russia is again extending south, this time into Syria, and carrying out what can only be described as war crimes in the city of Aleppo. I read that, ironically, Ms Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, called today for European unity at the European Council in response. I am unsure as to what response can be made militarily. The problem with western and Russian intervention in the Middle East for the past 100 years has been that we have resorted to military means. Throughout that period, this was done in American, Russian, French and British interests rather than in the interests of the region's Arab people.
Most historians assess, and we in Ireland are in a unique position to do this, the seeds of the problem as having stemmed from the period after the First World War when the promise of Arab national rule, similar to the promise of Home Rule that we were given, was dashed with the creation of the Sykes-Picot agreement. It divvied up the region, with France getting Syria and Britain getting Iraq. Britain wanted the oil. The French only realised afterwards that they had done a bad deal and the British had got the better wells. This sounds trite and simple, but it is the underlining problem with how the region has been dealt with - that is the only way to put it - over the past 100 years.
With the increased importance of oil in the 20th century and the ability of oil reserves to fund armaments and military development, the likelihood of Britain, America and elsewhere going to war in places such as Iraq to protect their oil interests is an underlying factor in what has destabilised and destroyed the country and people of Syria. It is the deepest tragedy. Although there are complex issues in Syria in terms of the civil war and the various factions, there is an underlying truth in that the West is looking after its interests in the region over a protracted period has laid the foundations for the tragedy we are seeing today.
What are we to do? In fairness to the Army, we are in the Golan Heights on a difficult mission. When other countries pulled out, we were willing to place ourselves on the front line of peacekeeping. We should commend our soldiers and continue with the work that we have done over the years in terms of trying to provide that neutral United Nations presence on the ground. However, we must go further. As other Deputies have mentioned, we are increasingly looking over our shoulders in terms of our own economic interests, for example, instead of looking back to our country's roots and traditions and to a time when we had a sense of affinity with Arab nationalism, be it expressed in Ba'athist nationalism or as an Islamic movement.
Given our history, our tendency is generally to remain neutral in this most complex of areas. In some instances, however, we must stand up for certain rights while being neutral. We must stand up for the rights of those in Palestine, the Gaza Strip and, in particular, the West Bank who are being treated in the most despicable manner and who need friends, allies and recognition. We should sometimes be willing to risk our short-term economic interests by saying the brave and difficult thing in support of the Palestinian people.
We should step up to the plate and accept refugees from Syria in larger numbers and with greater urgency. Friends of mine have visited the refugee camps in Greece. They are pulling their hair out in despair wondering why they can walk down a pier in Piraeus and meet the finest people one could meet, people who would be a significant addition to this country and who are clearly declaring that they would like to move here, have good reasons for doing so, can speak English and can be of benefit to the country, yet those people are not being allocated places here or being processed in due time. One can only suspect that a lesson is being meted out to refugees in Syria to the effect that they should not come across the Aegean Sea or else they will be stuck on a pier living in a tent for a year, two years or three years. Lord knows how long it will take us to get those people out of that horrible situation. We should be standing up for our tradition. We should be Samaritans in this moment and be willing to accept refugees far more quickly than we have been doing heretofore.
We should remain neutral and not equate Islam with terrorism, which so many other countries seem willing to do. I am glad that we have not gone down the French route. My God, but they have a tradition of many years in the context of the Syrian crisis. For them to make this equation because of their burkini and hijab disputes is a fundamental mistake and we should avoid making such an error. It would not be fair. Islam has good and peaceful exponents as well as people who follow a terrorist path. We have shown our own ability to act as terrorists over the years. We are not exactly as white as the driven snow when it comes to setting off bombs around the world.
We must stand up for Irish citizens in Egyptian prisons. We need to be willing to talk trade, give up trade or use whatever leverage we have to say, for example, that it is not right for a 17 year old boy to be in prison for three years. This should be the case regardless of whether he is an Irish citizen, but because he is an Irish citizen, we have all the more an obligation to stand up for basic rights. We should not take positions on the Arab Spring fight one way or the other. We should just stand up for what is proper and what every legal court, including an Egyptian one, would agree, namely, that someone should not be kept in prison for two, three or four years without a fair trial. We should stand up for such people. All parties and countries would recognise that as justice.
We should send aid and do whatever we can to support those in Aleppo. Our aid agencies have a proud record. Some have run into controversies in recent times, especially in Syria, but we should continue our support and increase our overseas aid. The dramatic ongoing reduction in overseas aid as a percentage of GDP does not reflect where we should be placing ourselves on this matter.
If we are serious about helping people in Aleppo, we must be willing to give the necessary moneys for that purpose. We are not doing that, however, and it was not done in the budget. That needs to change.
I commend the Business Committee on facilitating these statements. I acknowledge the calls by my colleague, Deputy Griffin, since 2012, for a debate on the situation in Syria. He has raised the matter in the Dáil on at least three occasions, each time seeking a debate.
I add my voice of condemnation to those of my colleagues in regard to the tragedy that has been unfolding for some years in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria. I call for an end to the bombing campaign by various nations, particularly the atrocities being enacted by the Russian state. I commend Government efforts to accommodate refugees from Syria and ask the Minister to expedite their reception so that we can meet our humanitarian targets. I acknowledge the funding of €62 million over the past five years in humanitarian aid to Syria. That provision is a positive statement of support from this country. It is not fair for anybody in Ireland, a neutral state, to suggest that any other country should send troops to Syria, but I acknowledge the need for a cessation of the bombings and atrocities and the need for peacekeepers if and when such a ceasefire takes place. We in Europe were criticised for our response to the Balkan crisis in the 1990s. Today, the destruction of Aleppo is a stain on the world and everything must be done by the United Nations and European Union to secure an end to the conflict.
I have listened carefully to all the contributions this evening. I thank my colleagues for their frankness and their passion in this important debate. It is clear, having regard to the number of telephone calls, letters and e-mails received by my Department and my constituency office in recent weeks, that this is an issue that is deeply troubling to the Irish public. The exchanges we have had this afternoon provide an important opportunity to address those concerns and to outline Ireland's position and the efforts we are making to support the Syrian people. The use of violence by the Assad regime, its allies and other regional actors against civilians in Syria has been excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate.
The city of Aleppo has faced the brunt of that violence in recent weeks. The pause today in the bombing offers a small reprieve for the citizens of that beleaguered city. It is clear, however, the pause will soon come to an end and the people of Aleppo will once again sit in silence and fear awaiting the all too familiar sound of aircraft overhead. The threat to the defenceless civilian population is unacceptable. I again call on the regime and its allies to extend the pause and put in place a lasting cessation of hostilities. I strongly emphasise that the end of the pause can never be an excuse for the Assad regime and its allies to justify renewing its totally unacceptable bombardment of the ancient city of Aleppo. These atrocities must end and must be accounted for.
I will try in the time available to me to address some of the specific concerns raised by colleagues. I will, of course, get the note Deputy Crowe requested. It is being drawn up as we speak and the Deputy will have it very early next week at the latest. We have agreed to accept 4,000 refugees and asylum seekers from Syria. I share the concern of many in this House that the process of bringing them here has not been as rapid as we would have expected. I hope those numbers can now be facilitated. I have no doubt the Syrian people who come here will be warmly welcomed by everybody in this House and by the public. I am in regular contact with my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, to advance the reception programme.
I am asked on a daily basis what people can do to help the Syrian people other than supporting the refugee programme. The Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, referred to the humanitarian support we provide. Some 13.5 million people remain inside Syria and are in need of critical humanitarian assistance. Ireland's response to their plight in recent years has been unprecedented, with more than €62 million in humanitarian assistance allocated to Syria and the region. That support will continue. More than 2 million Syrian children have been forced out of school. The conflict is now in its sixth year, which is the entire span of second level education here in Ireland. Young people in Syria and those who are displaced in the region are on the verge of becoming a lost generation. We will continue to direct our humanitarian aid to those most in need.
I have repeatedly expressed my concern at the failure of the UN, particularly the Security Council, to act to protect the Syrian population. The Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, has made clear his own frustration at the failure to uphold international humanitarian law and the impunity under international law for those committing crimes in Syria. That action undermines the UN as well as weakening international law and fundamental rights. Several speakers referred to what is being done in Syria as war crimes. In particular, the attack on the humanitarian convoy was an act of barbarism.
I look forward to opportunities for further discussion on this issue. I told the Taoiseach two weeks ago that I am available at any time to participate in debates such as this and to inform the House as to what we are doing. I will be in the Chamber for Question Time next Tuesday, which will afford us an opportunity to resume deliberations on these important issues.
The Dáil adjourned at 6.30 p.m. until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 25 October 2016.