Attachments
NGO Forums representing over 100 Syrian and international humanitarian organisations condemn, in the strongest possible terms, today’s failure of the UN Security Council to extend the authorisation of the humanitarian cross-border mechanism in Syria, ultimately putting millions of lives at risk.
Humanitarian NGOs operational in Syria are extremely concerned by the failure of the Security Council to reauthorise a mechanism that would ensure humanitarian aid continues to reach millions of people in northwest Syria. Members of the Security Council have put politics ahead of the lives of Syrian civilians who are in urgent need of life-saving assistance - 80% of them being children and women of all ages.
In northwest Syria, rapidly deteriorating living conditions coupled with two massive earthquakes this year have left over 4.4 million people depending on humanitarian assistance. Before the earthquakes, the UN’s cross-border operation reached over 2.7 million people each month. This mechanism is the backbone of the northwest response and provides funding, critical aid and healthcare supplies and other life-saving support. Today the Security Council failed to stand up for Syrian children and families in the northwest and have put their futures in jeopardy.
Year after year, the ability of humanitarian organisations - including Syrian NGOs - to provide principled assistance wherever it is needed has been slowly chipped away. In 2014, there were four UN-led border crossings that helped to ensure food, shelter, water, protection, critical medical services, and other life-saving support reached Syrians in need. Today’s decision to not reauthorise access through Baba Al-Hawa will create a major impediment to effective humanitarian aid for millions – particularly given that 80% of all UN supported aid in the northwest is delivered through this border crossing.
Since the earthquakes, 2,700 trucks have crossed through Baba Al-Hawa and so essential humanitarian services risk being severely impacted by the lack of authorisation. Existing progress on early recovery assistance may be set back, food supplies, healthcare, protection for the most vulnerable are all at risk, and many other services will suffer as a result of this decision. Ultimately lives are at risk of being lost that could be spared.
CONTACT
info@sirf.ngo
NOTES TO EDITOR
Issued on behalf of the Syria INGO Regional Forum (SIRF), Syrian NGO Alliance (SNA) and Northwest Syria NGO Forum, collectively representing over 100 NGOs working in Syria
ADDITIONAL INFO
Additional NGO statements related to the cross-border authorisation can be found at the link here There is simply no justification for restricting aid to Syrians at a time when humanitarian needs are at their height. Reaching all Syrians in need via the most direct routes is not a political choice, it is a humanitarian imperative. We urgently call on the Security Council to reconvene at the earliest possible time to authorise UN-led cross-border humanitarian assistance for a minimum of 12 months in order to avert an impending, yet completely preventable, catastrophe