MSF calls failure to renew cross-border aid to northwest Syria “shame”

12 (EUROPA PRESS)

The NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has described as a “shame” the impossibility of the plenary session of the United Nations Security Council to approve a resolution that allows the extension of cross-border humanitarian aid to northwest Syria.

The general coordinator of MSF for Syria, Sebastian Gay, has indicated that it is a “failure” and has warned that this resolution is “crucial” to guarantee access to humanitarian aid, “vital for the population” of the area. .

“The non-renewal of the cross-border resolution at the United Nations Security Council meeting on July 11 is a shame. Politics is being put before the lives of millions of Syrians who live in unimaginably precarious conditions and depend on international aid , and the delivery of this essential aid is being jeopardized,” he lamented in a statement.

Thus, he pointed out that “if it is not resolved, this failure will inevitably contribute to reinforcing the isolation of northwestern Syria and interrupting the supply of vital aid to the population of this region.”

For this reason, the organization has urged “all parties to assume their responsibility when it comes to prioritizing the right to vital assistance for the Syrian population in the northwest and renew the cross-border resolution with the utmost urgency.”

His words come after Russia has vetoed the resolution presented by Switzerland and Brazil, which planned to extend this assistance mechanism for nine months through Turkish territory to the northwest of the country, where some four million people benefit from this aid. China, for its part, has abstained, while thirteen other members of the Council have voted in favour, according to a UN statement.

The proposal presented by Moscow, however, establishes extending the work of the mechanism -which expired on Monday- for a period of six months, but includes a call to the UN countries to take measures to meet the needs of the population. Syria in the face of actions that Russia considers “undermine the interests of the Syrians”. The Russian resolution only got a vote in favor of China.

A week ago, the NGO itself called on the Security Council to renew the cross-border resolution for the passage of humanitarian aid in northwestern Syria and thus guarantee greater access for humanitarian aid “broader and more sustainable, and through all the possible means and steps”, something that he considers “crucial to ensure the uninterrupted supply of vital aid for the population” of the area.

Gay then pointed out that the vote was a “critical” moment for northwestern Syria and said that it is “disheartening to see that the population’s access to humanitarian aid, on which it depends to live, has been entangled in political negotiations”. . “If a regular and sustainable means of delivery of aid is not guaranteed, people’s lives and health will be in danger,” she said.