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Jo Cox: Watch the Labour MP's compelling speech on the Aleppo crisis

'Sometimes all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing'

Maya Oppenheim
Thursday 16 June 2016 16:40 BST
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Jo Cox MP speaks on Aleppo crisis

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Among many things, Jo Cox will be remembered as a popular MP who campaigned tirelessly on global issues.

Ms Cox, 41, was attacked in her constituency in Birstall in West Yorkshire near to where she held her weekly surgery. She was airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary in a critical and serious condition but died of her injuries soon after.

Syria was an issue close to Ms Cox’s heart and was one of her cornerstone campaigning issues. The politician routinely called upon Britain to do more to help the victims of Syria’s civil war.

Most recently on 3 May, Ms Cox called an Urgent Question on the situation in Aleppo in Syria.

In her empowering speech, she called for Britain to protect civilians and to deliver aid and air drops to besieged communities in Syria. In her own words in the speech, “Sometimes all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”.

In October 2015 she co-authored, alongside Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell, an article in The Observer which argued British military forces could come to an ethical solution to the Syrian conflict. She went on to both launch the all-party parliamentary committee on Syria and become its chair.

In October, she abstained from the vote for UK military intervention in Syria because she was against the strategy of intervention.

Born in Batley, the Yorkshire native is the first in her family to graduate from University.

Prior to embarking on a career in politics, Ms Cox worked as an aid worker for a decade. Holding a number of high-profile roles, she was the head of humanitarian campaigning for Oxfam and an advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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