I thank Special Envoy Pedersen and Undersecretary Lowcock for their briefings.
The deteriorating humanitarian situation reminds us that the conflict in Syria is far from over. Working on cross-line deliveries is important. However, until regular aid corridors have been established, we need to reconsider our earlier decisions. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, expanding cross-border aid deliveries in July is the only responsible approach to address the enormous humanitarian needs.
Estonia calls to reauthorize Bab Al-Hawa crossing for one year, and to reopen the crossings of Bab Al-Salam in Idlib and Al-Yaroubiyah in the Northeast for the same period.
Sustainable humanitarian response must be predicated on enabling access to all parts of Syria. We need to ensure the availability of Covid-19 vaccines to all people in Syria. I express my gratitude to OCHA for its continued efforts on the ground in Syria, where they assist through partners every month more than 2,4 million people.
Mr. President – looking at the political situation, challenges persist. The mock presidential elections this week are not in line with resolution 2254. Legitimate claims of the Syrian opposition must be taken into account, when looking into the future of Syria. Unfortunately, Syrian Constitutional Committee talks in Geneva have also not produced genuine results.
Estonia encourages the Special Envoy to focus more efforts to the issue of detainees and missing persons. This could serve as a confidence building measure to rebuild trust between the Syrian parties.
I reiterate the call of Estonia and the European Union on the need to create an international mechanism to locate missing people or their remains. There must be accountability for the many war crimes and crimes against humanity – and an end to impunity. We demand the release of all arbitrarily detained people: especially women, children, and the elderly.
We welcome the overwhelming support of largest international donors to Syria. European Union and its member states’ contributions enable a scaling-up of critical programs to support host communities and refugees in dealing with the impact of COVID-19, as well as to alleviate the suffering of Syrian people inside of the country.
Estonia and the European Union remain committed to finding a lasting and credible political solution to the conflict in Syria. We encourage all international actors to support Syrian people in achieving these aims, which are set out in the Security Council resolution 2254 and the 2012 Geneva Communiqué.