Lord Patten – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2015-12-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their strategy for the continued protection of Alawites, Christians and Druze in the areas of Syria now controlled by the government of President Assad.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The current state of the Syrian civil war makes it difficult to offer explicit protection to Syrian minorities. The Assad regime creates the conditions for extremism in Syria by prosecuting a war it cannot win, destroying communities and the social fabric of the country. The only way to secure the position of Syria’s minority communities is to find a political solution to the crisis.

However, the International Syria Support Group has agreed that protecting the rights of all Syrians, regardless of ethnicity or religious domination is fundamental. The UK will continue to work with this, as political discussions continue.

The UK also supports non-governmental efforts to promote dialogue between different ethnic and sectarian groups in Syria, as we seek further progress on a political settlement. Minorities including Alawites, Christians, Druze, Kurds and Turkmen have been represented in these projects.