The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) addressed the 2013 Autumn Meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), hosted by the Parliament of Montenegro, on 13-14 October.
Pam was represented by Hon. Riccardo Migliori (Italy), who addressed the second session of the Mediterranean Forum, during which the parliamentarians debated the situation in Syria. Opened by Hon. Igor Luksic, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, the debate included the participation of members of the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation and OSCE participating States from across the region.
Hon. Migliori underlined the close cooperation between the two parliamentary assemblies and referred to the contribution of PAM at the “Regional Conference on the OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspect of Security for the Mediterranean”, held in Malta on 11-12 September 2013. On that occasion, PAM Secretary General, Amb. Sergio Piazzi, stressed the importance of ensuring coordination between the activities carried out by international and regional organizations dealing with the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), for which reason, the Code of Conduct goes along with the general development of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFAs) and Rules of Engagement (ROEs), as being continuously updated by organizations such as the UN or NATO.
At the Mediterranean Forum of the OSCE PA, Hon. Migliori introduced the forthcoming PAM high-level regional parliamentary hearing entitled “The Syrian Crisis, the humanitarian dimension and diplomatic initiatives”. The event will be hosted by H.E. Senator Taher Masri, the President of the Jordanian Senate, in Amman, on 10 November 2013. The following day the delegations will be accompanied on a field visit to the Syrian refugees’ camps at the Syrian-Jordanian border.
The hearing is a follow up to the PAM mission to Damascus and Beirut, last July. “The objective of the meeting is to offer an opportunity to our members and UN agencies to exchange views on the humanitarian situation in Syria and that of refugees in neighbouring countries, as well as to look at prospects for the effective use of the instrument of parliamentary diplomacy in supporting confidence building measures, inter-parliamentary dialogue and diplomatic initiatives”, Hon. Migliori added.
The need and value of such a hearing has been stressed on the occasion of recent bilateral consultations at the UN HQ in Geneva. On that occasion, PAM Secretary General met with Ms Kyung-wha Kang, Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, H.E. António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and with H.E. Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN and League of Arab States Special Envoy to Syria.
Hon. Migliori concluded that in Amman, the PAM parliamentarians will be also called to support the implementation of all initiatives aimed at creating the conditions for a rapid political solution to the crisis.