Statement by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean on the GENEVA II CONFERENCE

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Statement by the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean
on the
GENEVA II CONFERENCE

 

 

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) welcomes with great satisfaction the announcement by the UN Secretary General that the Syrian Government and the opposition will meet for the first time for negotiations in Geneva on 22 January 2014.  PAM also congratulates the United States of America and Russia, as well as H.E. Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria, for their successful efforts to convene the Geneva II Conference.

The Assembly takes the opportunity to call on both sides to cease with immediate effect all military confrontation and instead, in light of this positive development, dedicate their energies to alleviate the hardship suffered by the civilian population.

PAM also reminds all parties of their responsibilities to facilitate the international community, the Red Cross/Crescent Movement and the UN Agencies, to assist the population, and to allow, in the safest possible environment, delivery of humanitarian aid.

PAM has been consistently committed to the humanitarian dimension of the Syrian crisis and has been particularly active during the last months through its parliamentary diplomacy network, with a series of high level meetings in New York, Geneva, Damascus, Beirut, Amman, Ramallah and Jerusalem with Government Ministers and Parliamentarians, as well as UN Agencies operating in Syria and in the neighbouring countries struggling under the weight of more than two million refugees.

PAM is confident that the region and the Mediterranean in general will benefit from a peaceful and political settlement of the Syrian crisis.

In the coming days a high level delegation will meet with the Secretary General of the UN, H.E. Ban Ki-moon, in New York, in order to prepare for the PAM 2014 action plan, which will be debated and adopted at the Plenary Session to be held in Marseille on 20-22 January.

 

 

 

Malta, 25 November 2013

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