Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister said no one is suggesting that the lifting of sanctions is going to sort the situation out tomorrow. Indeed, no one is suggesting that. It seems the Minister is putting forward as a reason for not doing something the fact that we are not going to solve all of the problems. We would not get far were we to adopt that type of mentality.

We put forward this motion as a basic simple humanitarian proposition. To be honest, much of the discussion that has been before the House today has been misinformed and inaccurate.

In 1999, UNICEF released a report that showed a doubling of mortality rates for children under five years in Iraq as a result of sanctions. The USA continued to valiantly support that cause of action, which was a crime against humanity as far as I am concerned.

There is a sad irony in the contributions of the Minister and those of Fianna Fáil. These contributors support the UN-led Geneva plan but do not support the UN-commissioned research into this area, which shows the exact opposite of many of the statements that have been boldly placed before the House tonight. The Minister tells us there are no sanctions on food, medicines and most other civilian goods. He said the EU sanctions are not a barrier to the delivery of aid or a cause of civilian suffering. He said Ireland has consistently supported sanctions targeted at the Assad regime and its supporters. None of these assertions corresponds to reality.

The UN report commissioned last year highlighted some facts clearly. The report recognises the different ways the USA and EU sanctions framework make specific allowances to permit activities in the context of humanitarian work. However, it also finds that the practical application of navigating these permissions act as an impediment to the delivery of humanitarian aid. The 40 page report – it was leaked, incidentally - gives many examples. We know, for example, that sanctions on Syrian banks have made the transfer of funds into the country almost impossible. Even when it is legal, the chill factor of threat of violation fees makes many transactions difficult. This means that aid workers cannot get paid and so on. In fact, it has been stated by the centre for Syrian studies at the University of St Andrews that the sanctions have actually empowered the regime. This is because aid is now an essential part of the Syrian economy. Sanctions give regime cronies in Syria the ability to monopolise access to goods. It makes everyone reliant on the Syrian Government. This was the case in Iraq with the food-for-oil system. A report leaked by The Guardianlast year stated that despite the sanctions targeted at the Assad regime, some $18 million was given to Assad companies and companies of his family members. We know that in 2012, for example, through access to the Assad family e-mails, that the sanctions did not stop him buying the Steve Jobs biography or a Harry Potter movie over the Internet. It did not stop his wife buying Ming vases or diamonds from Paris.

I guarantee the Minister that the facts prove other than what he has said. Sanctions are hurting the people. They are not targeting the regime, whose position has actually become strengthened out of the scenario. There is a cruel irony in this because those peddling the myth about sanctions were the same people who argued and supported the lifting of the arms embargo at the same time in rebel-held areas. Essentially, this allowed the areas to be awash with weaponry. This carried on the activities and the war far beyond what would have happened otherwise, amounting to every foreign power almost feasting on that area.

When we went to the primarily Christian village of Maaloula, we were given evidence of this. Previously, the village was two thirds Christian and one third Muslim. The day when Barack Obama announced that the USA was going to take on and bomb Syria effectively gave the green light to the rebel forces surrounding the village. The people in the village had a chilling video recording of the suicide bomber who set off a bomb at the entrance to the village. That led to an attack and the takeover of the village. Hundreds of families who lived there were cleared out. Now, hundreds of them are beginning to come back and are trying to rebuild their lives. Those people want the resources to be able to do that.

The inability to rebuild some of these areas arises because of sanctions and because of the extraordinary structural demands that are required in that area. There was a sad irony for us when we had a meeting with the priest in the parish centre. He recognised clearly that in 2011 many people in Syria were enthused by the Arab spring. They saw an opportunity to deal with the Assad regime after many years. They decided to have a go at it. The priest said people now realise that they had security, a social life and an economic life prior to all of this. In many ways, while they hated Assad, they are now questioning whether they should have made a war given what they have been left with now. We met many people who are trying to rebuild their lives.

Simply put, some of the points made in the House are not true. Deputy O'Loughlin talked about Homs. Homs was supposed to be the cradle of the revolution against Assad. We were in Homs. It is being rebuilt. As Deputy Wallace said, the events in the school in Akrameh al-Makhzumi were utterly tragic. Almost 2,000 children were in those two multicultural schools, which stayed open all during the war. The schools were for children aged between six and 12 years. There were two suicide bombs. All the children from one family were wiped out in those two bombs. One of the schools has a shrine with the uniform of one of the little girls who was killed. The uniform still has blood on it.

They have used the devastation from the bombing to make nice things such as pictures and paintings and to teach people that the response to evil should be love and assistance and from destruction should come construction. That message was given to us many times over.

I am glad the Minister made points about al-Fu'ah and Kafriya because we met some friends of the victims of that bombing. The meeting was one of the most harrowing experiences we had on our visit. When the terrorists closed off the towns of al-Fu'ah and Kafriya, families were divided. Some have not seen family members for years. The area was famous for olive trees but the trees were cut down for fuel and people in the towns were starving. Eventually, a deal was negotiated to get people out, but after three days of waiting, a suicide bomber used crisps and sweets to entice children to a car in which a bomb was detonated. We met family members of the victims as well as the friend of a woman whose three injured children were taken, presumably to Turkey. One of her children was returned to her because a doctor in Turkey found her, but she has had no word of her other two children. We have taken up the Minister's offer and have begun a process to try to get as much information as possible on these cases. In articulating on behalf of these people in the House, we are not in any way ignorant of all the other missing and displaced in other areas. However, these were the people we met and we gave them a pledge to do what we could because the pain and trauma on their faces was hard to forget. One woman had lost seven members of her family. As she sat in the meeting with us, two old women sat in a corner praying with their beads. It is out of respect for them that we singled out this issue.

Much of Syrian territory has been retaken and is being rebuilt. What the Syrian people want is assistance to rebuild. The belief held by the Irish Government and others that the Syrian Government has a monopoly on atrocities is not factually accurate. The United States has been found guilty of using white phosphorous in Syria and Iraq and has also used depleted uranium, cluster bombs and so on. Singling out Assad as the only bully in the world does not hold traction. Appalling atrocities have been committed. They include people being burned alive in ovens by ISIS and people being murdered in their beds, their children kidnapped and their homes ransacked, looted and destroyed.

The Syrian war is not, as previous speakers stated, a conflict between Sunni and Shia. We met people of all religions, many of whom united to fight al-Qaeda and the Saudis in Syria. As one man told us, a brother could be a brother in religion or a brother in humanity. Syrian society before the war was a mosaic of different cultures.

The purpose of the motion is to try to achieve the maximum degree of consensus on this issue. The facts are that sanctions do not work but are instead harming women and children and denying people medicine and access to materials they need. They have served to strengthen the regime the Government seeks to undermine through the imposition of sanctions. This is not a solution and we appeal, even at this late hour, to the Government to accept this simple motion as a positive step from a neutral, independent country seeking to put forward a vision for a better world, rather than the conflict and feasting by all sides that has taken place in Syria.

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