Activities of Anna FOTYGA related to 2023/2052(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Recommendation to the Council, the Commission and the EEAS on the situation in Syria (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on a European Parliament recommendation to the Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the situation in Syria
Amendments (38)
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 b (new)
Citation 2 b (new)
– having regard to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 a (new)
Citation 2 a (new)
– having regard to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2170 as adopted on 15 August 2014 and Resolution 2254 as adopted on 18 December 2015,
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the Geneva and Astana processes have failed to bring an end to the conflict and establish an inclusive transitional governing body, given the continued refusal of the Syrian regime to negotiate seriously a credible political solution with the opposition;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas since 2011 half a million Syrians have died and 14 million have been displacedforced to flee their homes due to violent attacks by armed and terrorist groups, but mainly as a result of the fierce repression by the Syrian regime, with the help of its allies, of its own people; whereas this repression has included the repeated use of chemical weapons, incendiary bombs, barrel bombs, missiles and conventional aerial bombardments on civilians; whereas at least 150 000 Syrians are missing after being captured and placed in the regime’s concentration-camp system and families have still not been informed of the fate of their loved ones;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas since 2011, more than 14 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes and more than 6.8 million remain internally displaced in their own country; whereas approximately 5.5 million Syrian refugees live in neighbouring countries, such as Türkiye, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt; whereas an irresponsible and unlawful pressure to open borders under Merkel's policy "Wir schaffen das!” has led to weakening of Europe's security and encouraged further weaponisation of migration; whereas the EU should continue the policy of helping refugees in the region, further supporting neighbouring countries; whereas robust support should be expected from wealthy Arab countries in the region;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas the OPCW has blamed Damascus for a series of chemical attacks during the civil war;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C g (new)
Recital C g (new)
Cg. whereas Syria is ranked 175 out of 180 on Reporters Without Borders' press freedom index; whereas at least 300 professional and non-professional journalists have been killed since 2011;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas the regime, through ethnic cleansing, conducted a brutal policy to change the country's demographic makeup; whereas Christians in Syria made up about 10% of the pre- war Syrian population, the brutality of the war caused a mass exodus of Christians; whereas 2.2 million Christians lived in Syria prior to the war and now approximately under 640 000 remain; whereas Christians in Syria have been persecuted by ISIS and other Islamist militias as well as the Syrian regime; whereas the Assad regime has attempted to project an image as a secular protector of Christians in Syria, the regime reportedly intentionally destroyed churches and detained at least hundreds of Christian citizens; whereas the regime, with the active support of the Russian Federation, besieged and completely decimated Aleppo, the largest Christian populated city in the country; whereas the country was ranked as the 12th most difficult place in the world to be a Christian;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas authoritarian foreign actors, including Russia, and Iran with their proxies - the Wagner militia, and Hezbollah and Iran-, have played a destructive role for the country since 2011, and; whereas Syria serves as a testing ground for Russia, practising and demonstrating its military capabilities, tactics, logistical reach as well as capacity for foreign military intervention to save a beleaguered allied regime; whereas the Syrian regime does not control the whole of national territory and can remain in power only with brutality and the support of these foreign actors;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas, since Hamas' brutal attack against Israel on 7 October 2023, Iran-backed militias in Syria have increased firing drones and rockets at Israel and US and international forces in north-eastern Syria; whereas Syrian airports have been used by Iran to transport weapons from Iran and Iraq to Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon, but also assisting Iran to supply weapons to Hamas; whereas at the same time while supporting Hamas, the regime has murdered thousands of Syrian Palestinians and refugees;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas there are several investigations and prosecutions of serious crimes committed in Syria, based on the principle of universal jurisdiction, giving some hope in the struggle for justice and accountability for acts of torture, crimes against humanity or war crimes in Syria;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C e (new)
Recital C e (new)
Ce. whereas France has issued an international arrest warrant for Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad, Bashar Al- Assad's brother Maher, the de-facto chief of a Syrian elite military unit, and two armed forces generals, accused of complicity in crimes against humanity over chemical attacks in 2013;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
Cc. whereas Russia and China have vetoed Western and Arab countries' sponsored resolutions on Syria at the UN Security Council, to prevent possible sanctions and military intervention, thereby shielding the Syrian regime from accountability for its war crimes;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C d (new)
Recital C d (new)
Cd. whereas the regime in Syria has supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine and recognised the occupied Luhansk and Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine; whereas in March 2022, Syria was the only Middle Eastern country and one of five in the world to vote against UN General Assembly Resolution ES-11/1 of 18 March 2022, denouncing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and demanding a full withdrawal of Russian forces; whereas in July 2022, Syria announced that it would break relations with Ukraine, in response to a similar move by Ukraine;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C e (new)
Recital C e (new)
Ce. whereas Russia claims that it has sent over 63 000 Russian personnel since 2015, including special forces, military advisors, air force personnel and private military contractors like the Wagner Group, to support and protect the Assad regime from collapse; whereas Russia has consistently committed war crimes in Syria, including the bombing of medical facilities and civilian areas and the use of indiscriminate weapons; whereas Russia's military footprint in the country consist of two main bases: the Khmeimim Air Base and a naval base in Tartus, and more than a hundred smaller military sites across the country; whereas Russia is the largest supplier of weapons to the Assad regime amounting to billions of Euros in sales;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the territory of Syria has served as a safe haven for terrorist groups including PKK, officially listed by the EU as a terrorist organisation, planning and executing terror attacks on Türkiye; whereas, as a result, Türkiye is engaging in large-scale armed conduct on Syrian territory on a regular basis;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas ISIS committed crimes against humanity, including genocide, in the territories temporarily under its control prior to the intervention of the international coalntinues to commit gross, systematic abuses of human rights and violations of international law, including crimes against humanity and genocide, through indiscriminate killing and deliberate targeting of civilians, mass executions and extrajudicial killings, persecution of individuals and entire communities on the basis of their identity, kidnapping of civilians, forced displacement of Shia communities and minority groups, killing and maiming of children, rape and other forms of sexual violence, along with numerous other atrocitiones;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B d (new)
Recital B d (new)
Bd. whereas in 2014 the United States announced the formation of a broad international coalition to defeat The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), consisting of 86 coalition members, who committed themselves to the goals of: providing military support to partners, impeding the flow of foreign fighters, stopping financing and funding of ISIS, addressing humanitarian crises in the region and exposing the true nature of jihadist movements;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the Syrian statregime is not sufficiently addressing the basic needs of the Syrian people, the country’s economic situation is extremely precarious and Syria has turned into a narco-state, further destabilising the region;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. whereas countries in the region have banned the import of fruits and vegetables from Lebanon to seek to crack down on the Captagon drug smuggling; whereas Europe has become both a destination but also a popular transit hub for Captagon, and according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction over a million tablets and almost two thousand kilograms of Captagon have been seized in Europe since 2018; whereas in April 2023, the EU sanctioned 25 individuals and eight entities in Syria for their involvement in the trafficking of narcotics;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point c a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point c a (new)
(ca) communicate to those countries and societies, whose capitals seek to normalise relations with the Assad regime, the human costs of the atrocities and war crimes committed by the regime;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point e
Paragraph 1 – point e
(e) stress that the policies of the regime as well as repression, negligence and corruption on the part of the regime are responsible for the economic situation, not the targeted sanctions from the EU against individuals and entities involved in the repression;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point h
Paragraph 1 – point h
(h) deplore the continuand counter the continued and even expanded presence on Syrian territory of hundreds of Iranian and Russian bases and militias; express concern about the economic exploitation of the country by predatory foreign powers;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point i
Paragraph 1 – point i
(i) condemn the attacks by Turkish forces and their occupation of Syrian territories in the northnote that Türkiye, is the most affected NATO Ally by the conflict in Syria, which has suffered the most terrorist attacks, and which hosts millions of refugees; recognise that Turkish operations to combat threats from across the border and Turkish military presence on the Syrian territories should not only meet Türkiye's security concerns but also be aligned with international law and U.N. resolutions; express their deep concern about the persistence of radical Islamist oppositionmilitias and terrorist groups in Idlib province; support the continuation of the international coalition against the Islamic State, which remains active in Syria despite significant defeats;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point i a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point i a (new)
(ia) track, dismantle and prosecute members of the jihadist networks which campaigned, radicalised, recruited, transferred and commanded over five thousand foreign fighters from Europe to Syria and Iraq;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point g a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point g a (new)
(ga) continue to support the Global Coalition To Defeat ISIS in terms of political, financial, operational and logistical means;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point k
Paragraph 1 – point k
(k) urgnote that it is up to the Member States to continuedecide whether to repatriatinge their nationals from the Al- Hol and Roj jihadist prison camps and to try them at home for the crimes they have committed abroad in Syria;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point l
Paragraph 1 – point l
(l) step up efforts to counter Russian and Iranian disinformation about Syria, including disinformation in Arabic;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point h b (new)
Paragraph 1 – point h b (new)
(hb) strongly condemn the launching of drones and rockets from Syrian territory towards Israel and stress that Syria should not be dragged into a regional war by Iran;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point m
Paragraph 1 – point m
(m) stress that the fight against impunity in Syria is a moral and political imperative for Europethe international community; welcome the judicial progress made by the Franco- German Joint Investigation Team regarding the 11 000 bodies of torture victims identified in the César report, the suspension of Syria from the International Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the progress made in Germany, France and Sweden in bringing Syrian criminals to justice;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point m a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point m a (new)
(ma) support attempts to bring the leadership of the Syrian regime to justice; welcome an international arrest warrant for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his inner circle issued by France for their complicity in crimes against humanity over chemical attacks in 2013;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point n
Paragraph 1 – point n
(n) condemn the irresponsible policy of open borders "Wir schaffen das" which brought to the EU thousands of unverified people, including war criminals and terrorists, thus weakening Europe's security, as demonstrated in the tragic terrorist attacks of Paris and Brussels - both with links to Syria; urge that information be exchanged automatically between all Member States on war criminals whose asylum applications are rejected under Article 1(F) of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point n a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point n a (new)
(na) commend the work of journalists, bloggers and individuals as well as organisations, such as the White Helmets, who, despite the brutality of the regime, continue to carry out their work in the country, informing the international community, supporting victims on the ground and maintaining focus on the future of the country;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point o
Paragraph 1 – point o
(o) call for the pooling of expertise and interpreters among the judicial and police authorities, and for a public prosecutor to be appointed in each Member State for crimes against humanityto ensure an exchange of best practices between Member States and third country law enforcement, judges and prosecutors, to effectively prosecute the crimes against humanity committed by the Syrian regime; call for European scholarships to be specifically allocated to Syrians seeking legal training;
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point p
Paragraph 1 – point p
(p) call on Member States to establish a European fund for victims of crimes against humanity in Syria, by developing a legal framework allowing the transfer to families of the victims funds frozen for being linked to property unlawfully acquired by the Syrian regime as well as wealth plundered by Assad and his accomplices;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point p a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point p a (new)
(pa) recognise the ongoing threat of looted art and illicit trafficking in cultural goods by both the Assad regime and ISIS carried out in Syria; urge the EU's action plan against trafficking in cultural goods to be strengthened along with third country cooperation to ensure that cultural goods are protected, removed from the black market, and are repatriated to the countries of origin when the conditions permit; recognise that the illicit trafficking of cultural goods remains a principle source of revenue for ISIS and the regime;
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point d a (new)
Paragraph 1 – point d a (new)
(da) invite wealthy countries from the region to intensify their humanitarian efforts for refugees fleeing from the brutality of Assad's war;
Amendment 214 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 – point u
Paragraph 1 – point u
(u) recall that Syria cannot be regarded, in whole or in part,note that some Member States have recognised Syria as a safe country for the return of its nationals living as refugees in Europe,; however highlight that some people who have fled the crimes of the regime andstill may risk torture and enforced disappearance if they return to Syria and those cases require particularly thorough examination;