Labour MEPs call for Syria weapons inspectors to get backing to do their job

Labour MEPs have called for weapons inspectors to be given the backing to do their job following the Russian offer to dismantle Syria's chemical weapons, the credibility of which will depend on the validity of the decommissioning process. 

The European Parliament will debate the Syria crisis on 11 September, seeking to keep pressure up on the Assad regime by voting for "a clear, strong, targeted and united response, not excluding eventual deterrent measures".

Labour's Foreign Affairs Spokesperson in the European Parliament, Richard Howitt MEP said:  "From Northern Ireland in my own country, to what the European Union itself did in Indonesia to what Germany and others are doing today in Libya, there is a wealth of international experience to verify decommissioning.

"The credibility of the Russian offer will now depend on the validity of the decommissioning process.  "For me that means being undertaken within a United Nations framework, and in the context of a UN resolution which enables the international community to coalesce on ending all crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria."

Howitt added: "This week's events show the foolishness of prematurely ending the work of the weapons inspectors, when their work just got very much bigger."

In the Parliamentary debate, Labour is set to restate the case for Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court, for donor pledges to meet the UN's humanitarian appeal in full, and for the British Labour proposal for an 'international contact group' to advance diplomacy to deal with the crisis.

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