Statement by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan on Japan's Response to Syria

May 11, 2011
Japanese

Japan and the rest of the international community have strongly condemned the use of force by the security authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic against protestors, resulting in a large number of casualties among civilians, and have been requesting the Syrian authorities to immediately stop acts of violence against civilians. We extremely deplore that the Syrian government has not earnestly responded to these calls, and many people are still being killed or injured by violence on the part of the Syrian authorities.
In light of such situation, from the standpoint of strongly urging the Government of Syrian Arab Republic to immediately stop acts of violence against civilians and promptly implement political and economic reforms requested by people in order to restore stability to the nation, Japan has in coordination with the international community, decided to review its economic assistance to Syria. Specifically, Japan will withhold the implementation of new official development aid except for assistance of an emergency or humanitarian nature.

(*This is a provisional translation. The above date denotes the date of the issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

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