(ANSAmed) – BEIRUT, JUN 17 – Senior officials of UN humanitarian agencies operating in Syria battered by conflict and economic collapse have recently asked, in a joint letter to the United Nations Security Council, to extend one year the authorization for cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria via Turkey and without the authorization of the disputed central government in Damascus.
The mechanism, which expires on 10 July, has been in force since 2014, three years after the outbreak of armed violence in Syria and has been renewed periodically, every year or every six months, by members of the Security Council.
According to the UN, more than 4 million people survive in northwestern Syria depend on this cross-border aid mechanism. Of these, more than 80% are women and children. But in light of the war in Ukraine and tensions between Russia and Western countries, humanitarian workers fear that Moscow – a permanent member of the Security Council – is now strongly opposed to the renewal of the UN mechanism.
In this sense, Martin Griffiths (OCHA), Catherine Russell (Unicef), Natalia Kanem (UNFPA), Antonio Vitorino (IOM), David Beasley (World Food Program), Filippo Grandi (UNHCR) and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO) have signed a document urging “the members of the Security Council to renew United Nations Security Council Resolution 2585, which authorizes the continuation of cross-border assistance for another 12 months”. (ANSAmed).
Source: Ansa
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