UK Ambassador to the United Nations, Barbara Woodward, said in statements during a Security Council session on Syria Tuesday, 27 February 2024, that Assad regime has been continuing to make enormous profits from producing and selling the Captagon with the support of Iran-linked groups. This trade (Captagon) has become more organized, violent and destabilizing than ever.
Woodward welcomed the efforts of the UN Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, to organize the Syrian Constitutional Committee’s meetings.
Woodward confirmed that the Syrian conflict has been ongoing for 13 years and if we want to achieve a concrete progress, we need to see three changes. The first one, Assad regime must stop its destabilizing activities, pointing out that Assad regime’s readmission to the Arab League last year was an opportunity for it to play more positive role in the region, but we have not seen that change.
The second change is to act to address the humanitarian crisis in Syria as 72% of the population are in urgent need of humanitarian assistances, while more than 1 million people in northeastern Syria suffer power outages, pointing out that her country still calls for sustained, rapid, and unhindered humanitarian aid access for the vulnerable across all Syria.
The third change, Woodward called on all the stakeholders in Syria to protect the fundamental human rights, expressing its concerns over the report of the de facto authorities proposed the public morality Law in Idleb.
Woodward pointed out that in case this Law was enforced, it could significantly affect women’s rights and freedom of expression, noting that the UK is closely monitoring the situation and urging the partners to use their influence to support human rights.
