Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to bring to the House's attention that, five minutes' walk from here at the RHA Gallery in Ely Place, there is a photographic exhibition that shows the reality of the Syrian refugee crisis. The Caesar Exhibition displays photographs of detainees from the Syrian regime's prisons and detention centres.The photographs were taken by a former military policeman in the Syrian army, known by the pseudonym "Caesar", who fled Syria in 2013. He smuggled out with him over 55,000 photographs of approximately 11,000 people who were tortured in Syria by the Assad regime. The 11,000 victims he photographed represent only a fraction of those who were the subject of the systematic torture and killing that took place inside the regime's prisons. It is the most chilling exhibition I have ever seen. The brutal evidence that can be seen on the bodies of those pictured shows that they suffered from starvation, beating, strangulation and other forms of torture.

As politicians and parliamentarians, we need to keep the protection of civilians in Syria at the top of our political agenda. We have seen in recent times the number of people who are starving there and we are aware that aid is being prevented from getting to them. The emphasis, and rightly so, is very much on the defeat of ISIS and politicians throughout the world are focusing on that. What is being ignored is the brutality taking place and the contribution the Assad regime is making to the conflict, which has resulted in the deaths of between 250,000 and 500,000 people in the past four years. I know time is running out, but I ask the Leader for a debate with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade on the situation in Syria so that we can keep the appalling situation and the torture of these unfortunate people at the top of the agenda. The photographs that are on display have been verified by an international commission of inquiry, they have been shown at the UN in New York, at the UK Parliament buildings in Westminster and at the European Parliament in Brussels. If Members get the opportunity to pop in and see them, it would certainly be worth their while. The exhibition is only running for another hour or so.