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Saturday 10 December 2016

Labour urged on International Human Rights Day: ‘Actions not words on Syria’



Peter Tatchell has joined with activists from Syria Solidarity UK to disrupt a speech by Jeremy Corbyn, and urge the Labour Party to pursue “actions not words” to save civilians in Aleppo. 

Jeremy Corbyn was outlining the Labour Party’s commitment to fundamental rights on Human Rights Day, when activists silently took to the stage with placards saying ‘Action not words: Back UK Aid Drops now’.

Campaigner Peter Tatchell, who joined the action today, said:

 ‘On this day, politicians across the world have gathered to give speeches and celebrate the noble sentiments in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Yet in Aleppo, even as these words are being voiced, Syrian and Russian forces are targeting fleeing refugees, children in schools, doctors in hospitals, and paramedics from The White Helmets. In addition 200,000 civilians are being deliberately starved in Aleppo and over a million elsewhere in Free Syria. We call on the Labour Party to live up to its progressive rhetoric and actively push for aid drops’

Clara from Syria Solidarity UK added: “Do Syrian civilians have human rights? If so, why are we allowing this to continue? Western diplomats have conceded that there are no technical obstacles to delivering airdrops of food and medicine to Aleppo using a GPS-guided parachute system. What is lacking is the political will. If we stay silent, if Western politicians refuse to take what actions are available to them, then they are complicit in these massacres’

Syria Solidarity UK are calling on Mr. Corbyn, Labour Party MPs and members to engage more fully with the situation in Syria and publicly and vocally:

  • Support calls for humanitarian access to besieged areas in Syria.
  • Push for a parliamentary vote on unilateral UK aid drops.
  • Demand the suspension of Syria from the UN until it agrees to a ceasefire, and stops blocking aid to besieged areas.
  • Request UN supervised evacuations of the White Helmets and the civilian population.


Contact info@syriauk.org for more information.