Syria: UN experts urge Security Council to extend life-saving aid delivery into northwest Syria

GENEVA (4 January 2023) - UN human rights experts* today called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to renew the cross-border resolution (UNSCR 2642) expiring on 10 January 2023 for the provision of humanitarian aid into northwest Syria. Their statement is as follows:

“Cross-border assistance remains an essential access modality to reach the 4.1 million people in need in northwest Syria. The weak, fragile and disrupted health systems with concurrent public health emergencies and numerous challenges affect not only the access, availability, acceptability and quality of health services across Syria but also the physical and mental well-being of groups of the population in vulnerable situations. Access to health care remains challenging for many, due to insecurity, distance to the health facilities, security challenges affecting the freedom of movement and patriarchal norms as well as acts of gender-based violence in the private and public sphere that disproportionally affect women and girls. Each month, the UN reaches 2.7 million Syrians with cross-border assistance enabled by the Security Council. An estimated 80 percent of them are women and children who face additional burdens and risks to their physical and mental health resulting from the non-fulfillment of their routine and emergency sexual and reproductive health needs.

For eight years, the UNSC cross-border resolution has allowed life-saving aid to be delivered to northwest Syria despite current limitations in its scope and duration. The renewal of the resolution is the minimum required to respond to the ever-growing needs and vulnerabilities of millions of civilians in the northwest. There is no comparable alternative to cross-border aid to reach the 4.1 million people that need it there. While all modalities are needed, the UN Secretary-General’s reports on Syria’s cross-border operations have repeatedly found that crossline assistance remains inadequate to meet the urgent and increasing scope of needs.

Failure to renew the cross-border resolution would drastically disrupt and reduce the delivery of life-saving humanitarian and medical aid in northwest Syria, which will impact millions of people to access basic food, water, and health care services, that may particularly impact older persons. Despite the support provided by civil society and other international and national organizations to scale up humanitarian response activities, we express concern about the risks of increase of hunger among the population, the lack of access for patients to receive appropriate and timely health care. Insufficient prioritization of access to a full range of sexual and reproductive health goods, information and services, in particular for adolescents and victims of sexual violence, has created additional challenges for women and girls. This is compounded by the risk for millions of people of losing shelter assistance and access to water. We are deeply concerned that the deprivations caused by ending UN cross-border operations will result in preventable deaths.

After more than 11 years of conflict, with international humanitarian law and human rights violations and abuses committed by all parties, the COVID-19 pandemic and the recurring infections, a cholera outbreak declared in September 2022 is spreading fast. As of 22 December 2022, 28,359 suspected cases and 522 confirmed cholera cases, including 15 associated deaths, have been reported in the northwest. Furthermore, the needs and vulnerability of the affected population in the northwest of Syria is further compounded by the onset of winter as well as risks of floods storms and devastation to the tents of families.

We support the continuation of UN cross-border humanitarian assistance and urge the members of the Security Council to renew the cross-border resolution. If the cross-border resolution is not renewed, the already desperate humanitarian situation in northwest Syria will be further aggravated at a time when people in the country need the international community's support to survive.”

ENDS

*The experts : Ms. Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right to health; Ms. Claudia Mahler, Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons; Mr. Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues; Mr. Livingstone Sewanyana, Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order; Ms. Dorothy Estrada Tanck (Chair), Ms. Ivana Radačić (Vice-Chair), Ms. Elizabeth Broderick, Ms. Meskerem Geset Techane and Ms. Melissa Upreti, Working Group on discrimination against women and girls; Ms. Alexandra Xanthaki, Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights; Mr. Gerard Quinn, Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities; Mr. Obiora C. Okafor, Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity; Mr.Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the right to food; Mr. Saad Alfarargi, Special Rapporteur on the right to development; Ms. Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences.

The Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

For inquiries and media requests, please contact: Ms. Johanne Bouchard (Johanne.bouchard@un.org).

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact Renato Rosario De Souza (renato.rosariodesouza@un.org) or Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org).

Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on Twitter: @UN_SPExperts.

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