The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) is organizing a high-level parliamentary hearing on the humanitarian situation in Syria, hosted by the Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate of the Italian Parliament in Rome, on 6 June 2013.
The PAM meeting is intended to offer an opportunity to humanitarian agencies to meet with Syrian MPs and other delegates from PAM Member Parliaments in order to review the present humanitarian situation, as well as to promote the protection of civilians and facilitate the timely delivery of humanitarian aid to all the victims of the ongoing conflict in Syria and refugees in the neighbouring countries.
A delegation of the Syrian Parliament has confirmed its attendance at the Rome meeting following bilateral consultations between UN Under-Secretary-General Philippe Douste-Blazy, the Speaker of the Syrian Parliament Mohammad Jihad al-Laham, and PAM Secretary-General Sergio Piazzi, in Quito (Ecuador), last March, on the margins of the 128th IPU Assembly.
At the parliamentary meeting of the Western Mediterranean Forum (5+5 Dialogue) in Nouakchott (Mauritania), co-organized by PAM, on 15 April, the opportunity to hold such an event was debated and unanimously supported.
UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, in a letter addressed to PAM Secretary General, has indicated that “humanitarian needs continue to grow at an alarming rate” in Syria and identified “mounting insecurity, lack of financial resources and bureaucratic hurdles” as some of the main obstacles hampering UN humanitarian programmes to the extent that within weeks these might be totally suspended. He also requested Senior Officials of the United Nations and other aid agencies to contribute to the PAM conference on the humanitarian situation in Syria in order to tackle in a concerted manner the enormous challenges currently facing the country.
UNSG Ban Ki-moon invited the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean to stress to its contacts in the Syrian Parliament the urgent need to work towards reducing the level of violence, improve the protection of civilians and allow for the timely and necessary humanitarian access to all affected Syrians, in both Government and opposition controlled areas.
This initiative is part of PAM parliamentary diplomacy endeavours to promote peace, security and stability in Syria, in close collaboration with, inter alia, the UN-Arab League Joint Special Envoy for Syria and the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.