Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

Owing to the continuing internal navel gazing we are going on with because of the serious situation in which we find ourselves, we somehow seem to have forgotten about human rights abuses taking place across the world. This House has a very proud record of highlighting human rights abuse and Senator Norris and others have highlighted these issues on many occasions. In recent days, the United Nations has published a report on human rights abuses in Syria. It has concluded that over 250 innocent people have been killed, including a two year old girl who was shot by one of Assad's thugs who was quoted as saying that it would prevent her from growing up to become a demonstrator. Would the Leader agree that in light of the various requests that have been made for the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to come to this House, this is an opportunity for this House to highlight once again human rights abuses in a country that seems to be flying in the face not only of the United Nations and world opinion but also of the Arab League? Syria continues to defy international sentiment to stop the violence.