Brussels, 14/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 13 October, associations called on the international community to help Syria and Iraq in the face of the threat from Islamic State (IS). In the view of Thomas Schmidinger from humanitarian aid organisation LeEZA, a humanitarian corridor is needed to supply Kurdish fighters and civilians with food and weapons. “In addition to a corridor, what is needed is weapons - the possibility to defend against IS”, he said at a hearing on the human rights situation in Syria, Iraq and the neighbouring countries by the European Parliament's human rights sub-committee. Schmidinger stated that the fighters want “help from the European Union - especially from the air”. However, “air strikes are not enough. The ground aspect also needs to be taken into consideration. If there is no commitment from outside, it is the Kurdish fighters who must take charge of this. But again; they need an armament”, he stressed. “IS is so strong and in such a strong movement of expansion that we can't imagine co-existing with it or negotiating a ceasefire. And the more we wait to undo it, the harder it will be”, Schmidinger stated.
“We are not asking for war on Islamic State, but we want to be able to benefit from protection, and without military aid this protection doesn't exist. We want political and humanitarian protection, but also military protection - they go together”, said the co-president of the Yezidi Federation of Europe, Leyla Ferman. She added that the Yezidi needed aid. “We are afraid a humanitarian catastrophe could happen. If there is no international aid, it will not be possible to get through the winter”, she said.
Frej Fenniche, the head of the Middle East and North Africa Section at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called for an urgent response from the international community. He recalled the states' “responsibility to protect”. “Responsibility and a commitment to protect are needed”, he added. In Fenniche's opinion, the international community must put pressure on the Syrian government and armed groups to cease the human rights violations and find a political solution. “The conflict must be demilitarised”, stopping support through weapons or money or through allowing foreign fighters access to the country from one side or the other. “The assistance must be stopped which has provoked still more tragedy”, he said. Fenniche is also surprised that thousands of people demonstrated about cartoons of the prophet Mohammad in 2005, but that no one is in the streets to criticise IS (our translation throughout). (CG)