B4-0363, 0369, 0371, 0385, 0404 and 0406/94

Resolution on the forthcoming meeting of the EU-Syria Cooperation Council

The European Parliament,

A.whereas a full meeting of the EU-Syria Cooperation Council will take place on 28 November 1994, the first such meeting for several years,

B.whereas, from January 1992 onwards, Parliament blocked the adoption of the 3rd and 4th Financial Protocols to the EU-Syria Cooperation Agreement, largely because of gross human rights violations by the Syrian authorities,

C.whereas in December 1993 Parliament lifted its blockade and gave its assent to the 4th Protocol, but only after both the Syrian authorities and the Commission had confirmed that human rights issues would be entered on the Cooperation Council's agenda, while requesting an annual progress report by the Council on human rights in Syria,

D.whereas although, from 1991 onwards, some progress has been made in respect of human rights in Syria, major and numerous violations still persist, while terrorist acts are still organized from territory it controls,

E.whereas Syria has become involved in the Middle-East peace process,

1.Welcomes the forthcoming meeting of the EU-Syria Cooperation Council and expects the Council and the Syrian authorities to honour fully their commitment to include human rights issues on the Cooperation Council's agenda;

2.Looks forward to further concrete results concerning, inter alia:

-the freeing of those imprisoned without charge or fair trial or beyond the expiry of their sentence, as in the case of some 90 health professionals arrested in March 1980 after a one-day strike and since held in jail under harsh conditions,

-banning torture while in custody,

-investigating in full all cases of death while in custody and disappearances while in prison;

3.Is of the opinion that more effective and durable progress will be accomplished with the establishment of general safeguards against human rights abuses, as well as mechanisms of remedy and prevention. These would include:

-arrests being supervised by the judiciary,

-arrested persons being promptly brought before a judicial authority and given access to lawyers, family and doctors, or released;

4.Welcomes Syria's involvement in the Middle-East peace process and urges the European representatives to insist that Syrians take all possible steps conducive to the promotion of peace and prosperity in the region;

5.Expects the Council to report back to it on the results of the Cooperation Council's meeting and reminds the Council of its request for an annual progress report on human rights in Syria;

6.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Syrian Government.