The Hague -- Members of Parliament of the Christian Democratic Appeal have asked questions to the Dutch government about the deteriorating position of Assyrians in Syria. The parliamentary questions from MPs Maes van Lanschot, Elles van Ark and Tijs van den Brink are a response to a petition by the Aramean Movement for Human Rights, which calls for the situation of Christian Assyrians in Syria to be structurally included in Dutch government's foreign policy.

In their questions, the three MPs ask the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation to reflect on the vulnerable situation of minorities in Syria and the exclusion of Assyrians from recent constitutional developments -- where a January 2026 presidential decree recognized the Kurdish identity and language, but not the Assyrian identity and language.

The parliamentarians highlight the clear unequal treatment of the indigenous Assyrian people in Syria. "Could you indicate whether and to what extent the [Dutch] Cabinet is of the opinion that other indigenous population groups, including the Arameans -- with a demonstrable presence of approximately 3,000 years -- should also be eligible for similar recognition? In that light, how do you assess the importance of equal treatment for different indigenous population groups in Syria?" They also highlight the endangered Aramaic language, "which was the principal language of Syria for approximately two millennia."

MPs Maes van Lanschot, Elles van Ark and Tijs van den Brink call on the Dutch government and the European Union to pressure the Syrian government -- via economic and diplomatic means and through conditioning development funds -- to demand equal treatment for all indigenous population groups in Syria and to constitutional recognize the indigenous Assyrian people as an indigenous people and the Aramaic language as an official language. The Dutch MPs include in their list of questions a call to the Dutch government to explicitly anchor the position of Syria's minorities within Dutch (and European) policy frameworks.