Six senior international officials in humanitarian affairs signed a joint statement calling for extending the United Nations Security Council resolution 2642 which allows for life-saving humanitarian aid to be delivered to north-west Syria from across the Turkish border.
The resolution is set to expire in eight days.
“If the Council fails to extend it, the consequences will be catastrophic for 4.1 million people in non-Government-controlled areas. Most of them are women and children who need assistance just to survive at the peak of winter and amidst a serious cholera outbreak,” the top UN officials underscored.
“Without UN cross-border operations, millions of people, especially those displaced for years and multiple times, will not have access to food and shelter; to help in coping with harsh winter conditions; to the surveillance, treatment and testing capacities needed to contain cholera; to safe water; and to protection from gender-based violence,” the joint statement read.
“Any failure by the Council to extend the resolution would also mean that the UN Monitoring Mechanism (UNMM) would cease to function, which would bring an end to the UN’s verification of the humanitarian nature of consignments at the border.”
“We were also able to bolster assistance within Syria from Government-controlled areas across frontlines into the country’s north-west, delivering food, health, education and other supplies for thousands of people in need.”
The statement expressed determination “to maintain and expand these deliveries” and called on “all stakeholders for unhindered, sustained and predictable humanitarian access to north-west Syria from Government-controlled areas.”
“Unlike earlier resolutions which extended the cross-border operations for 12 months, the last action taken by the Council only granted a six-month authorization. This led to additional logistical and operational challenges, increased operational costs, and curbed the capacity of humanitarian partners to help those in need,” the senior UN officials said.
The signatories of the statement are Martin Griffiths, Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Antonio Vitorino, Director General, International Organization for Migration, Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Catherine Russell, Executive Director, United Nations Children's Fund, David Beasley, Executive Director, World Food Programme, and Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization.
