Estonia’s Explanation of Vote for the draft resolution S/2020/658, in connection to the Security Council agenda item “The situation in the Middle East” (Syria Cross-Border Humanitarian Aid).
Delivered by the Permanent Representative of Estonia to the UN Mr. Sven Jürgenson
Estonia voted against the draft resolution proposed by the Russian Federation for the renewal of cross-border aid mechanism to the Syrian Arab Republic. This text was not to support Syrians, who are suffering from nine years of war and chemical attacks.
Instead, Russia tried with this draft to arm-twist the Security Council members into enhancing Moscow’s political and military objectives. We saw it yesterday, when Russia and China vetoed the text of humanitarian co-penholders Belgium and Germany, and we see it again today with the proposed draft.
Despite, repeated calls of humanitarian NGOs and UN agencies to renew cross-border aid deliveries for one year, Russian draft demanded a closure of yet another crossing in the current mechanism.
However, according to OCHA, Bab Al-Salam is crucial for reaching hundreds of thousands of people in the outskirts of Aleppo. The attempt to decrease humanitarian aid in light of Covid-19 outbreak to the most vulnerable communities in Syria is irresponsible. Estonia considers Russia’s position unacceptable.
Finally, we also want to underline that the rhetoric around unilateral coercive measures is purely politically motivated. EU sanctions in particular do not have any considerable effect to humanitarian deliveries and activities inside Syria, as they target the elites in support of the Syrian regime.
As such, we stress once again that Syria’s current socio-economic problems are a result of widespread corruption, warlordism and mismanagement. These are also the main reasons, why multinational companies avoid doing business with Syria.