July 6. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) urged the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday to renew the resolution that keeps open the only official border crossing available for humanitarian aid access, which is located in northwestern Syria.
In a statement, the organization has warned that about 60 percent of the people residing in the area, of whom more than half are internally displaced, are in danger of losing access to humanitarian and health aid if it is not renewed. the resolution, whose vote is scheduled for this Thursday since it expires on Sunday.
The Bab al Hawa border crossing, which is located on the Syrian-Turkish border, is the only approved humanitarian crossing point to enter northwestern Syria.
“The non-renewal of the cross-border resolution would further aggravate the already desperate humanitarian situation in northwestern Syria,” warned the NGO, which recalled that according to the UN, of the 4.4 million people living in northwestern Syria country, 4.1 million need humanitarian aid and 3.1 million require health assistance.
Access to health care remains difficult due to insecurity, distance to the health facility, and cost of services or transportation. Every month, cross-border operations help 2.4 million people, as the organization has stressed.
“The ever-present threat of a non-renewal of the cross-border resolution hangs like a sword of Damocles over the people of north-western Syria, against the backdrop of overwhelming humanitarian and medical needs and a severe economic crisis,” said Claire San Filippo, MSF General Coordinator for Syria.
In this sense, he has stated that the Security Council “must renew cross-border operations that are vital” and has indicated that “if this lifeline is cut, access to basic food, water and health care for millions of people will be drastically reduced. “This will cause preventable deaths,” she added.
The report notes that in 2021, more than 99 percent of MSF’s humanitarian supplies in northwestern Syria were sent through this passage, so most hospitals and health centers could lose the medical supplies needed to operate.
The eleven years of conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, the worsening of the economic crisis, the sanctions and the effects of the war in Ukraine on the price of food and fuel have further worsened the living conditions of the population. In Syria.
According to the United Nations, more than 14.6 million people need humanitarian aid, which represents an increase of 1.2 million compared to 2021. The costs of the food basket are skyrocketing, registering the highest average price ever reached since monitoring began in 2013. 90 percent of the population is below the poverty line.
MSF has insisted that sending aid through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing remains the fastest, most efficient, transparent and cheapest way for humanitarian aid to cross into north-west Syria and there is currently no viable alternative to this mechanism. .
Thus, it has appealed to the permanent and non-permanent members of the UN Security Council to renew the cross-border resolution for the supply of humanitarian aid through said passage to the northwest of the country.
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