European Parliament resolution on Syria
Date: 2006-06-15
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Syria, human rights, political violence, trends of opinion

9.12.2006

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Decides to send an ad hoc Parliamentary delegation to East Timor in autumn 2006 to assess the

14.
political situation and examine the adequacy of EU assistance programmes;

15.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the East Timorese
state authorities (namely, the president, the parliament and the government), the High Representative for the
Common Foreign and Security Policy, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative, and the UN Secur-
ity Council.

P6_TA(2006)0279

Syria: Human rights violations

European Parliament resolution on Syria

The European Parliament,

— having regard to its previous resolutions on Syria, notably that of 8 September 2005 (1),

— having regard to the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement, to which the European Community and Syria are
parties, notably to Article 2, which stipulates that respect for democratic principles and fundamental
rights inspires the domestic and external policies of the parties and constitutes an essential element of
the agreement,

— having regard to the Barcelona Process declaration of 28 November 1995 and its emphasis on enhanc-

ing human rights,

— having regard to the political priority of

the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary
Assembly in 2005 to increase its dialogue on human rights with parliaments of the partner countries,

its Presidency of

— having regard to the Commission communication on the Tenth Anniversary of the Euro-Mediterranean
Partnership: a work programme to meet the challenges of the next five years (COM(2005)0139), in
particular the aim of focusing on issues such as the protection of human rights,

— having regard to its resolution of 27 October 2005 on the Barcelona Process revisited (2),

— having regard to the guidelines on EU policy towards third countries on the death penalty (1998) and
on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (2001), and EU guidelines
on human rights dialogues (2001) and on human rights defenders (2004),

— having regard to the declaration of the EU Presidency of 19 May 2006 regarding the recent arrests in

Syria,

— having regard to Article 11(1) of the Treaty on European Union and Article 177 of the EC Treaty, which
establish the promotion of human rights as an objective of the common foreign and security policy,

— having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. mindful of the importance of the political, economic and cultural ties that exist between the European

Union and Syria,

B. whereas the accession to power of the current President, Bashar Al Assad, gave rise to some hope in
Syria and went some way towards opening up the Syrian political system, which had been dominated
by the Baath Party for many years,

(1) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0340.
(2) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0412.

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C. whereas the Parliament and its President have already intervened several times to seek the release of
parliamentarians detained in Syrian prisons, and whereas on 19 May 2006, the EU Presidency called on
the Syrian Government to fully respect freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, which are pro-
tected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was ratified by Syria in
1969,

D. whereas in May 2006, after signing a petition for improved Syrian-Lebanese relations in view of UN
Security Council Resolution 1680, it was reported that several civil society activists were arrested and
tortured, notably including the lawyer Anwar al Bunni, the writer Michel Kilo as well as others, such as
Khalil Hussein, Dr Safwan Tayfour, Mahmoud Issa, Fateh Jammous, Professor Suleiman Achmar, Nidal
Derwiche, Suleiman Shummor, Ghalem Amer, Muhammad Mahfud, and Mahmoud Meri'i, and more
recently Mr Yasser Melhem and Mr Omar Adlabi;

E. whereas Anwar Al Bunni is a lawyer specialising in human rights issues and was arrested on the streets
of Damascus when he was on shortly to taking up a post as director of a human rights centre financed
by the European Union,

F. whereas as long ago as November 2005, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reported the
arrest and risk of torture of the peaceful activist Kamal Al-Labwani, who is now facing a life sentence
for expressing his views,

G. whereas the Syrian authorities are also reported to have arrested numerous journalists and civil society

activists in the past two months,

H. whereas this wave of arrests is intended to be a direct reprisal for the distribution, on 12 May 2006, of
a petition signed by some 500 people, calling for the normalisation of relations between Lebanon and
Syria; whereas the petition was of particular importance, being a joint initiative by Syrian and Lebanese
intellectuals and human rights activists and the first of its kind,

I. whereas in 2005 the UN Human Rights Committee expressed its concern ‘at the obstacles imposed on
in Syria and

the registration and free operation of non-governmental human rights organisations’
‘intimidation and harassment of human rights defenders’,

J. whereas Syria is governed by emergency laws introduced 43 years ago, which are used to justify the

violation of human rights,

Urges the Syrian authorities to release immediately all activists still detained for signing a petition

1.
calling for improved Syrian-Lebanese relations;

Further urges the Syrian authorities to reconsider all cases of political prisoners and release immedi-

2.
ately all prisoners of conscience, and to ensure that:

— the detainees are well treated and not subject to torture or other ill-treatment,

— detained or imprisoned persons are given prompt, regular and unrestricted access to their lawyers,

doctors and families;

Calls on the Syrian authorities to ratify the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or

3.
Degrading Treatment or Punishment;

Strongly endorses the declaration of 19 May 2006 by the EU Presidency on behalf of the European

4.
Union regarding the recent arrests in Syria;

5.
Points out that respect for human rights constitutes a vital component in any future EU-Syria Associ-
ation Agreement and calls on Syria to respect its commitments within the framework of the Barcelona
Process and along the lines of the European Neighbourhood Policy;

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Thursday 15 June 2006

6.
Reasserts the necessity for the Commission and the Council also to do their utmost to ensure that the
Association Agreement with Syria, which has not yet been signed, leads to an improvement in human rights
in Syria;

7.
Calls on the Commission to assess annually the human rights situation in Syria and its compliance
with the obligations under the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement and to report its findings within the frame-
work of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Syrian govern-

8.
ment and the Syrian parliament.

P6_TA(2006)0280

North Korea: Human rights violations

European Parliament resolution on North Korea

The European Parliament,

— having regard to its previous resolutions on North Korea,

— having regard to the guidelines on EU policy towards third countries on the death penalty (1998) and
inhuman or degrading treatment (2001), and EU guidelines on human

on torture and other cruel,
rights dialogues (2001) and on human rights defenders (2004),

— having regard to the resolution of 16 April 2003 adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights,

— having regard to the statement issued by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions, the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention,
the UN Special Rapporteur on the question of torture and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation
of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) of 31 May 2006,

— having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the resolution of the UN Commission on Human Rights expresses deep concern at the exist-
ence in the DPRK of ‘torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, [and]
public executions’, as well as ‘all-pervasive and severe restrictions on the freedoms of thought, con-
science, religion, opinion and expression’,

B. whereas the government of the DPRK continues to deny access to the UN Special Rapporteur on the
situation of human rights in the DPRK and the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, as well as
to non-governmental human rights organisations, which hampers investigation of the human rights
situation; whereas, however, multiple reports, notably by victims who have managed to flee the
country, suggest a most serious pattern of violations, including executions, torture, detention of political
prisoners and inhumane prison conditions,

C. whereas opposition of any kind is not tolerated and any person who expresses an opinion contrary to
the position of the ruling Korean Workers' Party faces severe punishment, as in many cases do their
families,

D. whereas Mr Son Jong Nam, who has lived in China, where he attended church and became a Christian,
was reportedly tortured by the National Security Agency, and was then sentenced to death for alleged
treason without a trial, and without the benefit of any of the procedural safeguards required by inter-
national human rights law,