Press release 3 June 2011
We would like to declare the support of over 300 Mayors, a majority of city mayors in Belgium, for Ashraf residents. This support from all major cities throughout the country is symbolically important and we hope it will add to the international pressures to save the defenceless people in Ashraf.
We are very concerned over the plight of 3400 residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq and we warn of the occurrence of a greater humanitarian catastrophe than the massacre of April 8.
We welcome the decision of the Council of Ministers on Monday 23 May to find a final solution to this human tragedy. We welcome the plan provided by European Parliament delegation for Relations with Iraq presided by Mr Struan Stevenson. In the European Parliament initiative the immediate security of the residents in order to provide conditions for achieving a sustainable and peaceful solution, is emphasized. As Ashraf residents have warned, any forced displacement is a prelude to another massacre.
We call on our government to raise the issue of the protection of Ashraf in the UN Council of Human Rights in Geneva and in the next session of the EU Council of Foreign Ministers.
Dirk Claes, Mayor, Senator (CD&V)
David Clarinval, Mayor, Depute (MR)
Patrick Moriau, Mayor, Depute (PS)