Socialist and Democrat (S&D) deputies in the European Parliament urged on Tuesday EU member states to provide impartial delivery of humanitarian aid to the Syrian people in need through UN agencies and civil society organizations, however, dismissing normalization with the regime of President Bashar Assad.
“We welcome the Brussels Conference and ask the EU member states to step up their financial support for both Syrians living inside the country and those that found refuge in Syria's neighborhood, including in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, and Iraq,” S&D parliamentarians said.
Their statement came in a letter addressed to EU participants at the fourth Brussels Conference on “Supporting the future of Syria and the region”, which took place from 22 to 30 June 2020.
The bloc reaffirmed that the UN-led political process for Syria, with the meaningful inclusion of all segments of the population, is the only way to end this decade-long war.
“As soon as, and only when a political transition is agreed on this basis, genuine reconstruction should start,” the MPs said.
Some 80 countries, international organizations, the EU, and UN agencies came together to participate in the international conference and in its high-level ministerial segment on Tuesday.
S&D deputies said that humanitarian aid was not enough.
“We hope the conference will be an opportunity to reinvigorate the UN-led process to bolster a political solution for Syria,” S&D deputies said.
In the letter, they explained that after their blatant violations of international, humanitarian, and human rights law, including the deliberate targeting of educational, healthcare, and humanitarian facilities and actors, the Assad regime and its external backers, Russia and Iran, may not be allowed to decide on the future of the country.
“Turkey must reverse its illegal de-facto military occupation of Northern Syria. A representative government in Syria that reflects the entire society, including its Kurdish minority, is the only way forward for the country's long-term stability,” the letter said, adding that once the UN-led political transition is agreed, the EU should be ready to immediately provide Syria with substantial and meaningful reconstruction assistance.”
It called on EU members to never give up their diplomatic efforts to bring the war to end, with a sustainable agreement, in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.
“The Assad regime must be made accountable for its actions. We owe this to the victims of unspeakable horrors that have taken place during all these years of war,” the letter said, adding that all those responsible for war crimes, human rights violations, and the use of internationally banned weapons must be brought to justice.