Good afternoon ladies and
gentlemen. I want to begin by expressing my deep condolences to the people of
Turkey over the terrible mining disaster. Foreign Minister Davutoglu of course
has been here with us today, and I’ve said to him the UK stands ready to
assist our friends in Turkey in any way that we can, and the ministers gathered
for the Friends of Syria Core Group meeting observed a minute’s silence
in memory of the lives lost in Turkey.
I’ve hosted a series of
meetings this morning, starting with a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of
France, Italy, Germany, the United States and the UK to discuss the crisis in
Ukraine. We unanimously welcomed the Ukrainian government’s efforts to
promote constitutional reform, including the first meeting of the national
dialogue that was held yesterday. This was clearly a successful first meeting.
We strongly welcome that, and we welcomed the fact that preparations for the
presidential elections on 25th May are proceeding well in the great majority of
Ukraine.
We strongly support the work of
the OSCE, including the work of President Burkhalter of Switzerland, but also
the work of the OSCE on the ground. The United Kingdom has already committed
nearly £2 million to the OSCE for their work in Ukraine, and I can
announce an additional contribution of another £500,000 to the Special
Monitoring Mission. It is vital that there are enough monitors and enough
resources to monitor and to report truthfully on what is happening on the
ground in Ukraine. And we call on other OSCE partners to do likewise and to
increase their support for this vital effort.
We all agreed at the meeting
that Russia’s behaviour towards the elections will determine whether or
not wider economic and trade sanctions will be applied by the United States and
by the European Union. We all agreed to continue preparations for these
sanctions, while of course urging Russia to stop any actions that prevent the
elections going ahead peacefully.
We were then joined on the
subject of Syria by the Foreign Ministers and Ministers of Turkey, Saudi
Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt. These are the
countries that make up the Core Group of the Friends of Syria or the
‘London 11.’ We held some detailed talks, including with President
Al-Jarba and Prime Minister Tomah of the Syrian National
Coalition.
We are of course united in our
disgust and anger at what is happening in Syria, and the regime’s utter
disregard for human life. We’ve already seen the deaths of over 150,000
Syrians. And we have agreed a short communiqué, first of all condemning
the Assad regime’s unilateral plan to hold illegitimate presidential
elections on 3rd June. We say in our communiqué that this mocks the
innocent lives lost in the conflict, utterly contradicts the Geneva
Communiqué – it is a parody of democracy, many millions of Syrians
will be unable to participate in such a so-called “election” and we
call on the entire international community to reject these illegitimate
elections as the Arab League, the United Nations, the United States, Turkey and
the European Union have already done.
We have also agreed unanimously
to take further steps together, through a co-ordinated strategy, to increase
our support for the moderate opposition, the National Coalition and for its
Supreme Military Council and associated moderate armed groups; to do everything
we can to hold the Assad regime accountable for the terror it is perpetrating,
including through Security Council referral to the International Criminal
Court; to work together to counter the rising forces of extremism and to
complete the removal of Syria’s chemical weapons; and to step-up our
efforts to deliver humanitarian aid across borders and across lines
irrespective of the consent of the regime. And we say at the end of our
Communiqué we have directed our officials to implement a core group
action plan.
The United Kingdom, for its
part, adding to that, will provide an additional £30 million ($50
million) in practical support to help the opposition. We have also decided to
upgrade the status of the National Coalition’s Representative Office here
in London to a “Mission” in recognition of the strength of our
partnership. With other countries, we will increase our humanitarian assistance
to areas not being reached by the UN, including by funding cross-border aid.
The UK has now allocated £76 million for such cross-border operations and
we will step up those efforts. And we will strongly support a new UN Security
Council resolution to compel the regime to allow humanitarian aid into Syria
and to halt its starvation and surrender tactics. As I mentioned in reference
to the Communiqué, we will strongly support the principle of a
Resolution referring the Syrian regime to the International Criminal
Court.
In that regard, I am also
delighted to have the National Coalition’s full support for our
Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, which has been so
widely used by regime forces inside Syria. And I have invited their
representative to attend the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict,
taking place here in London from 10th to 13th June.
So we have had a strong, united
and purposeful meeting which involves the stepping-up of support to the
moderate opposition in Syria and concerted action at the United Nations. We
will work over the coming weeks to implement these commitments, including to
increase humanitarian assistance, and we will intensify how closely we work
together given the deepening crisis in Syria, because we are all determined to
respond to it.