F. whereas, according to various reports, nearly 1 900 people died in Syria as talks were being held in Switzerland, increasing further the dramatic death toll of more than 130 000 from the nearly three-year-old conflict that started in March 2011; whereas the conflict has escalated into a civil, or even sectarian, war with daily bloodshed accompanied by flagrant violations of humanitarian law amounting to war crimes; whereas, according to the UNHCR, around one third of the country’s population of 22 million is displaced, with 2 396 861 – half of whom are children – being registered refugees in neighbouring countries; whereas this num ...[+++]ber is estimated to reach 4 million by the end of 2014 if the situation remains unresolved, adding to the already enormous pressure on neighbouring countries, and particularly on Lebanon;

(Return tabled) Question No. 20 Mr. Alex Atamanenko: With regard to the horse slaughter industry in Canada: (a) what was the reason for the temporary halt, initiated by European Union (EU) officials, to horse meat imports from Canada on October 12, 2012; (b) has Canada participated in talks with EU officials regarding the safety of horse meat from Canada since that time, (i) if so, what topics were discussed, (ii) what conclusions were reached; (c) what restrictions effective in 2013 will be imposed upon the Canadian horse meat industry by the EU, (i) what is the anticipated impact of these restrictions on the frequency and type of dru ...[+++]g residue testing on horse meat in Canada as well as on the data required on Equine Information Documents (EIDs), (ii) will the restrictions on prohibited/non-permitted drugs be further tightened; (d) is there any oversight by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on transport drivers and horse meat dealers listed on EIDs as current owners to check for a history of violations of the United States Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Transport, or CFIA transport regulations, (i) does the CFIA enhance its scrutiny of such violators or conduct follow-up investigations on those who have been flagged for violations, (ii) is this information shared with any other inter-connected government agency either in Canada or in the United States; (e) how often do CFIA inspectors do a visual inspection of the transports that arrive at the slaughter plants to ensure that the horses have been transported safely; (f) how many transport violations concerning horse slaughter transportation have been issued to transport drivers within the last five years, (i) how many warnings of violations have been issued, (ii) if the warnings have been ignored, how does the CFIA restrict or prohibit those transport drivers from conducting business in Canada; (g) how often does the CFIA conduct inspections of feedlots and how many warnings or violations were ...

Premier McGuinty of Ontario said that the Kelowna accord was “in a state of suspended animation at this point”.

76. Strongly condemns the continuing provocative, inflammatory and anti-Semitic rhetoric of the Iranian President, who has called for Israel to be ‘wiped out’, and particularly deplores the threats made against the very existence of the State of Israel; is very concerned by the exponentially rising numbers of executions in Iran, which come down to extrajudicial state murder in view of the lack of any due process, as well as by the continued systematic repression of citizens aspiring to more freedom and democracy; stresses that official mutual contacts between the delegations of the European Parliament and the Majlis should also be used ...[+++] to address human rights issues, should be conditional on free access to visit political prisoners and human rights activists and the representatives should be given the opportunity to exchange freely a full range of political opinions; calls on the VP/HR to make arrangements for re-establishing an EU Delegation in Iran in order to be able to monitor, from an EU perspective, the situation on the ground; urges the Iranian regime to abstain from interference to Iraqi internal affairs;

J. whereas there are increasing numbers of reports regarding executions and death sentences passed in apparent violation of internationally recognised criteria and standards, especially on juvenile offenders, and reports of increased numbers of arbitrary arrests and threats to journalists, cyberjournalists and webloggers, notably Ahmand Seraajee, who was arrested on 30 June 2005,

The European Union expresses its concern at the fact that the situation in Burundi has not yet stabilized and that, more than three months after the death of President Cyprien Nataryamira, the question of the installation of a new head of state has not been settled.