Fastest News Updates around the World

The UN Security Council discusses the situation in Syria after the earthquakes

22

- Advertisement -

- Advertisement -

The United Nations Security Council held a closed meeting on Monday to boost humanitarian aid to Syria in the aftermath of two major earthquakes that hit the country’s already ailing northwest, amid calls for a new border gate to be opened to deliver aid.

The meeting, requested by Switzerland and Brazil – the UN leaders concerned with the Syrian humanitarian file – will see a presentation to council members by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths, who visited Turkey and Syria this weekend where he chafed at the pace of aid. swell.

But even before the session, his message was clear.

“We have so far failed the people of northwest Syria,” Griffiths said Sunday on Twitter.

“They feel right to be abandoned,” he said, adding that it was the duty of the international community to “correct this failure as quickly as possible.”

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes that struck Syria and Turkey on February 6 have so far killed more than 35,000 people and left communities in both countries desperate for emergency assistance.

Before the earthquake, all essential humanitarian aid to the more than four million people living in opposition-held areas of northwestern Syria was being delivered from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa crossing.

This is thanks to a cross-border mechanism created in 2014 by a UN resolution, challenged by the Assad regime and also by Moscow, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, which has sought in recent years to reduce the number of crossings. out of four. for one.

Aid deliveries through Bab al-Hawa were halted due to the earthquake but have since resumed, and calls have grown to open other crossings.

“People in affected areas are counting on us,” Washington’s ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Sunday in a statement.

“We must immediately vote on a resolution that responds to the UN’s call to allow additional border crossings for the delivery of humanitarian aid.”

Malta’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vanessa Frazier, who chairs the 15-member Security Council this month, said members have not yet started formal discussions on the resolution, “but I’m sure we will.”

Asked about criticism that the council is acting too slowly, she said: “We’re doing our job.”

“There is no point in the meeting for us without the information,” which comes from experts on the ground, Frazier added.

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More