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Parliamentary question - E-007575/2017Parliamentary question
E-007575/2017

Syria — Human rights violations

Question for written answer E-007575-17
to the Commission
Rule 130
Louis Michel (ALDE)

Authentic and overwhelming data continues to prove that enforced disappearances and a system of torture and mass execution exist in the Syrian regime’s secret detention facilities. As a result of the Russian and Chinese veto at the UN Security Council, no international legal proceedings have been brought against Syrian officials to date.

In response to this blockage, unprecedented legal enquiries and proceedings are ongoing in other European countries against those accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria. These actions, made possible by the arrival of both victims and suspects in Europe as part of the refugee crisis, are based on the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows a State to prosecute perpetrators of crimes regardless of their nationality or where the crime was committed.

What measures has the EU taken to support these initiatives, which break the impunity for the first time and offer hope of justice?

How does the EU intend to participate in the development and delivery of justice and support to all victims of these human rights violations?