Aid Agencies Fault U.N. Security Council on Syria Conflict
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council has failed to enforce its own hard-fought resolutions on Syria, a coalition of aid agencies said in a scathing report on Thursday, as the civil war there approaches its fourth anniversary.
The report faulted the council for not following up on a resolution it passed a year ago demanding that humanitarian relief reach those in need in Syria. The government has flouted those orders, without any reprisals, and United Nations agencies have no access to areas controlled by the Islamic State.
The report said that aid access had not improved and that compared with 2013, an additional 2.3 million people were living in areas that were “hard to reach,” bringing the total to 4.8 million Syrians. In 2014, aid convoys departing from Damascus, the government-controlled capital, reached fewer people than they did the year before, and the government gave permission to fewer than half of the requests from aid agencies, the report said.
The council adopted two resolutions in 2014 that authorized United Nations aid agencies to send convoys across Syria’s borders without the consent of the government. Those convoys have been going into the country, but United Nations officials have repeatedly said they are stymied, including by government forces who prohibit medical equipment from going into rebel-held areas. The resolutions also specifically cited the use of barrel bombs as a violation of international law; those bombings have continued.
The Security Council has taken no action. Russia, which has veto power on the council, remains a powerful ally of the Syrian government.
“The Security Council’s words now ring hollow,” said Andy Baker of the charity Oxfam. “The last year has seen little concrete action from parties to the conflict and governments with influence to tackle the spiraling humanitarian crisis in Syria.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES