Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask a follow-up question. I apologise for having to leave early. We have heard similar comments in the committee. We have had many hearings on the crisis in Syria. We have heard different views on the role of the Syrian Government and the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Some of us have been critical of that Government. We have received a briefing from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade that has pointed out the intransigence of the Assad regime and its resistance to efforts at resolution of the crisis in Syria for some time. Moreover, we have learned that it has been guilty of appalling abuses of human rights in its treatment of Syrian citizens – we have put these points to witnesses previously. Can the UNHCR comment on the role of the Syrian Government of Bashar al-Assad?