The IPU has today called on the Syrian parliament to fulfill its legal responsibility to protect the Syrian people and urgently take a lead in ending the conflict in the country.
In particular, it calls on the parliament to hold the government to account , especially in the oversight of the security and military forces and ensuring the safety of innocent civilians.
Since the conflict between government and anti-government forces began in 2011, becoming bloodier as it has endured, the Syrian parliament has been totally absent from the political stage and unacceptably silent on events as they have unfolded.
Although elected in May this year in elections boycotted by all the major opposition parties and by a fraction of eligible voters, the parliament is nevertheless obligated to protect all the citizens in the country irrespective of their political allegiances.
The call comes at the end of an extraordinary session of the IPU's Executive Committee in Geneva which ended today. The Committee also stated its intention to take the question of Syria’s suspension from the IPU to its next assembly in Quebec City in October this year.
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