Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 July 2020
477. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the recent steps taken by Ireland, the EU and the international community to address the arbitrary arrests of peaceful demonstrators and issues regarding forcibly disappeared persons by the Assad regime in Syria; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15457/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraOver the past nine years in Syria, deliberate repression by the Assad regime against its own people has caused enormous suffering.
Ireland has provided financial support to the UN International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism, which was established to gather evidence of abuses and facilitate accountability. Ireland has also called on numerous occasions for the situation in Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court.
Despite the fear which the regime spreads, there are recent reports of people peacefully protesting in Government-controlled areas in southern Syria - and also reports that many of them have been detained. We support their right to freedom of assembly.
The Syrian Government has not varied its repression over the last decade, despite sustained international pressure. Ireland and the EU have repeatedly condemned violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law perpetrated by the Syrian regime and other actors such as ISIS, some of which may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.
In the absence of a consensus at the UN on implementing sanctions, the EU has imposed its own sanctions regime on Syria, which includes bans on exports of arms, of goods which could be used for internal repression, and goods which could be used to make chemical weapons. A number of individuals against whom there is evidence of significant human rights abuses in Syria are also subject to individual EU sanctions.
Ireland has worked both at the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council to highlight infringements of human rights in Syria. On 22 June 2020, for example, Ireland co-sponsored a Resolution at the Human Rights Council which condemned the use of arbitrary arrest, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances by the Syrian authorities, demanded the immediate release of all persons arbitrarily detained, and noted the importance of ensuring justice for all those detained. Ireland also noted several concerns relating to violations of international law and human rights abuses in Syria in a national statement delivered at the Human Rights Council on 10 March.
Ireland will continue to call on all parties in Syria to ensure protection of human rights. The EU has made very clear, over a period of many years, our strong condemnation of the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Assad regime. We will continue to prioritise this issue in the context of our forthcoming tenure on the Security Council for 2021/2022.
