Phil GOFF

Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs                        
 
28 May 2012                                                          

MEDIA STATEMENT

Time for UN Action Against al-Assad

The United Nations must take the strongest action it can- under the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect - to prevent further murder of civilians in Syria, Labour’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Phil Goff, says.
 
“The murder of at least 108 civilians, many of them children, at Houla is just the latest of a series of massacres which have left an estimated 13000 people dead.
 
“One of the key purposes of having a United Nations is so the international community can take collective action to prevent wholesale killing of innocent people,” Phil Goff said.
 
I applaud the UN Security Council’s unanimous condemnation of the Syrian Government for the use of heavy weapons against the people of Houla.
 
“But that resolution must now be backed up with action.
 
“Just 300 unarmed UN peacekeepers can’t, on their own provide security for Syrian civilians.
 
“The UN needs to act with the same unanimity to put overwhelming pressure on the al- Assad regime to stop this wholesale slaughter. It has to be prepared to use whatever means necessary to do that, including sanctions and direct action such as no-fly zones which were used against Libya.
 
“President al-Assad needs to know he will be held account for the actions of his regime and faces the likelihood of direct action against him unless the killing of civilians stops,” Phil Goff said. 
 
Phil Goff has recently returned from the Middle East where he visited Syrian refugee camps on the Jordan border

ENDS

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