Seven UN organizations call on the Security Council to extend the mechanism for delivering aid to northern Syria
Seven UN organizations, in a joint statement, called on the UN Security Council to extend the mechanism for the delivery of UN humanitarian aid to Syria, before it expires on July 11.
The joint statement was made by Mark Lowcock, Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Antonio Vitorino, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration, and Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund.
Also, David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization.
The statement stated, “Millions of people in northwestern Syria still need humanitarian assistance to survive, and the United Nations needs cross-border access,” and called for “the renewal of the Security Council’s mandate for cross-border operations from Turkey to northwestern Syria (via a crossing point). Bab al-Hawa) for an additional year.
Failure to renew the mandate will result in a halt to the UN’s delivery of food, coronavirus vaccines, essential medical supplies, shelter, protection, clean water, sanitation and other life-saving assistance to 3.4 million people, including 1 million children.
In July 2020, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution submitted by Germany and Belgium, according to which the UN cross-border aid mechanism was extended to Syria through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, after Russia twice vetoed sending that aid through more than one crossing.
The issuance of Security Council resolutions requires the approval of at least 9 of its members, provided that none of the five permanent members, namely Russia, China, the United States, France and Britain, object to it.
Russia is seeking, through the Security Council, to block the extension by using its veto and depriving millions of civilians of cross-border aid.
