I thank Undersecretary Lowcock for his briefing on the humanitarian situation in Syria.
Madame. President – as the Syrian conflict approaches its tenth anniversary, let us consider the following. About half-a-million people have lost their lives, and millions of others have been deprived from their homes and livelihoods. Civilians in Syria still suffer from widespread insecurity and violations of international law. Continued violations and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria is also a result of political impasse in the Security Council. Unfortunately, permanent members have used their veto to block Council actions aimed to end this tragedy.
One of these vetoes was cast last year. It cut in half the cross-border mechanism, which provides lifesaving aid to millions of people in Northern Syria. The promises of replacing cross-border deliveries with cross-line aid have fallen short. The cross-line aid clearly remains irregular and unreliable, while the continued access restrictions continue to hamper the response to the growing needs. It is especially worrying, considering the significant increase of food insecurity. The humanitarian access in Syria is one of the priority issues also in the OCHA Donor Support Group where Estonia is a member.
On the backdrop of the decision to cut back humanitarian aid, the spread of Covid-19 continues to endanger Syrian civilians, especially the most vulnerable communities, including women and children. We welcome the plan to commence vaccinating the Syrian population through COVAX program and we appreciate the efforts of humanitarian workers on this frontline.
Madame. President – instability continues across Syria. We condemn the series of recent terrorist attacks, which have taken place in the areas of Azaz, al-Bab and Afrin. Stability and granting unimpeded humanitarian access is a fundamental precondition to effective humanitarian action.
Military solution cannot bring peace to Syria. That is why the European Union and its Member States are determined to continue their support to the Syrian people. Mitigating the consequences of the Syrian conflict has been one of the priorities of the Estonian humanitarian assistance. We look forward to the fifth Brussels Conference on “Supporting the future of Syria and the region” at the end of March. Estonia has contributed financially for years to support the alleviation of the human suffering of Syrian people and will continue to do so until they need our support.
At the same time we reiterate the EU position that there will be no funding of reconstruction, unless a genuine and inclusive political transition, in line with Security Council resolution 2254, is firmly underway.”
