mr president this morning we will be voting on a joint motion for a resolution co-signed by four political groups on the situation of the ashraf refugee camp in iraq
three thousand five hundred iranian men and women members of the democratic opposition to the fundamentalist regime in iran live there completely defenceless
in the last few weeks they have been under pressure and harassment by the faction of the iraqi government under the influence of the iranian regime and there is a high probability that at any moment a tragedy could happen that would parallel the ones we witnessed in the balkans not so long ago
we all remember srebrenica and i have no doubt that no member in this chamber wants a second srebrenica in iraq
our motion for a resolution is a call to alert public opinion all over the world before a disaster takes place
unfortunately some colleagues have tabled amendments that could increase the danger for the residents in camp ashraf and provide the iranian regime and its proxies in iraq with arguments to massacre them
i recently visited the camp myself and i assure you that the allegations included in the amendments tabled are absolutely unfounded
people in ashraf are there on a volunteer basis
they are free to leave whenever they want and they live in the best friendly relations with the iraqi population of the region
the intention of our motion is to protect these people
nobody would understand but if these amendments are adopted the result of the motion would be exactly the opposite
this is not a political issue colleagues it is purely humanitarian and it is very urgent
i beg you to vote against all amendments tabled to this joint motion supported by these four groups and support the motion as it has been agreed by these four groups that are of very different political stances
the lives of many innocent and harmless people depend on your vote
please do not let them down
