(17/11/2015)
United response needed to tragic attacks in Paris
The European Parliament Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup (ARDI) condemns the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday 13th November as well as the attacks in Beirut on the 12th of November and in Baghdad on the 13th of November. Our thoughts are with all the victims and their families at this difficult time.
The terrorists in Paris cut a swath through all of Parisian society, without respect for age, ethnicity, religion or nationality. There can be no justification, religious or otherwise, for such barbaric attacks which were direct violations to the principles upon which our societies are founded – democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
Regarding our response, it is important that we guard against knee-jerk reactions. Those who seek to use these awful events and criminal acts as an opportunity to conflate the beliefs of millions of our citizens of the Islamic faith with these barbarous terrorists only undermine our values and inadvertently feed into the extremist’s narrative.
Finally we should also not mix the asylum seekers/refugees coming to Europe with the Paris terrorists. Those who organised these attacks and those that perpetrated them are exactly those that the asylum seekers/refugees are fleeing from. We should, now more than ever before, ensure that we safeguard the rights of asylum seekers/refugees escaping the extremists.
Cécile Kashetu Kyenge MEP
Co-President of ARDI
Soraya Post MEP
Co-President of ARDI
Gerard Deprez MEP
Co-President of ARDI
Cornelia Ernst MEP
Co-President of ARDI
Jean Lambert MEP
Co-President of ARDI
Fabio Massimo Castaldo MEP
Vice-President of ARDI
Sajjad Karim MEP
Vice-President of ARDI