Gilmore calls on UN to act on Syria

The United Nations Security Council, particularly Russia, has "a global responsibility' to act against the Syrian regime, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore has said.

Last month's chemical attacks were "a war crime", he told The Irish Times, following weekend talks in Lithuania between EU foreign ministers and US secretary of state John Kerry.

“The information and evidence that is available to us points to the Syrian regime being responsible.

“It is not something that can be ignored, there has to be a strong response to it. That response has to come through the United Nations,” Mr Gilmore said, adding that the response did not automatically have to be a military one.

However, he said the UN "is not a forum where it is acceptable" for permanent Security Council members to block action where "the overwhelming view of the international community is that a response is required.

'Global responsibility'
"The responsibility that they have as members is not a responsibility to their own state and to their own particular alliances, they have a global responsibility.

“Members of the permanent Security Council and the power that they have [is] in a unique position and they have to exercise that in the interests of all humanity,” Mr Gilmore said.