IPU Calls on Syrian Parliament to Fulfil
its Role and Protect its People
Geneva,
30 August 2012 - The IPU has today called on the
Syrian Parliament to fulfil its legal responsibility to protect the Syrian
people and urgently take a lead in ending the conflict in the country.
In
particular, it calls on the parliament to hold the government to account,
especially in the oversight of the security and military forces and ensuring
the safety of innocent civilians.
Since
the conflict between government and anti-government forces began in 2011,
becoming bloodier as it has endured, the Syrian Parliament has been totally
absent from the political stage and unacceptably silent on events as they have
unfolded.
Although
elected in May this year in elections boycotted by all the major opposition
parties and by a fraction of eligible voters, the parliament is nevertheless
obligated to protect all the citizens in the country irrespective of their
political allegiances.
The call
comes at the end of an extraordinary session of the IPU’s Executive Committee
in Geneva which ended today. The Committee also stated its intention to take
the question of Syria’s suspension from the IPU to its next assembly in Quebec
City in October this year.