Valerie Amos: UN aims to aid 9.3m needy people in Syria
Dubai: The United Nations aims to get humanitarian aid to the 9.3 million needy people inside Syria as quickly as possible, according to Valerie Amos, the top UN official responsible for easing Syria’s humanitarian crisis.
Amos has visited the war-torn country five times in the last two years and has built up a strong rapport with Syrian relief officials.
Despite this, she has only managed to win limited rights for aid groups in Syria, where an estimated 250,000 people are living under siege, most of them encircled by government forces, but also including 45,000 in two northern towns besieged by rebels, unable to receive food, medicine and other supplies.
But the UN relief coordinator is confident those in need will be reached.
“That’s our goal, and we use every means at our disposal to achieve it: finding out what people need in different parts of the country; talking to the government and armed groups to increase access; raising money and prioritising how it’s spent so that the most urgent needs are met first,” Amos told Gulf News in an exclusive interview.
Amos, the UN humanitarian chief, has insisted that the UN and aid agencies will not be deterred by Saturday’s attack on a convoy bringing supplies into the Syrian city of Homs. Baroness Amos said she was sad that a three-day ceasefire to allow aid into the old part of Homs had been broken. The events were “a stark reminder of the dangers that civilians and aid workers face every day across Syria”. She said the UN would do “the best we can” but needed “safety guarantees”.
The convoy came under attack from mortars and gunfire as it was leaving Homs on Saturday, the second day of the humanitarian ceasefire.
Syrian authorities have blamed the attack on rebels, but they in turn say that President Bashar Al Assad’s forces were responsible for the incident and for earlier mortar fire that delayed the start of the operation on Saturday morning
Amos, 59, feels there is a lot of work to be done despite aid groups making some headway of late. “Last week we have seen small pockets of progress in Yarmouk, a temporary ceasefire in Barzeh, and an aid convoy reached Aleppo with supplies for 15,000 people,” she said.
“But we need urgent action now to lift sieges, agree on ceasefires and allow convoys to proceed immediately and safely.
“Border crossings and roads need to be opened to allow the regular flow of vital aid supplies. As the parties to the conflict try to find a way to end the crisis, the humanitarian plight of ordinary Syrian men, women and children must be their number one priority.”
Approach questioned
Amos, the undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and the emergency relief coordinator, has been subject to some criticism for her approach as the humanitarian situation has worsened.
Some have called for her to be tougher with the Syrian authorities, who rights groups say are blocking of access to aid as a weapon of war. But it is felt that if she pushes the Syrian regime too hard, the relationship she has worked hard to develop could come undone and the relief effort would suffer.
“It is clear that siege is being used by both sides,” she said.
“Opposition groups continue to besiege the towns of Nubul and Al Zahraa in Rural Aleppo, while government forces besiege the town of Eastern Ghouta, Daraya and Moadamiyah in rural Damascus, the Old City in Homs, and Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.”
Amos believes her pragmatic style is necessary if aid is to reach as many people as possible. “Humanitarian aid agencies are neutral and impartial. We provide aid to everyone who needs it, whoever and wherever they are. It’s the only way we can work because as soon as we associate ourselves with one side in a conflict, we can’t reach everyone in desperate need because the other side treat us with suspicion. It is the same whether we work in Syria, Afghanistan, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” she said.
“We work with everyone so that we can get to people in need, for as long as necessary. We don’t give up; we continue negotiating. We apply pressure through the international community when we are prevented from getting to people,” she added.
Still, Amos couldn’t hide her dissatisfaction at how the relief effort has panned out. “We are all frustrated with the rising numbers and our inability to reach all those in need. The General Assembly resolution which sets out the terms in which UN humanitarian agencies can work makes it clear that sovereignty of a state must be respected.
“So far, we have seen very limited progress. Despite recent ceasefire agreements in some of the hard to access and besieged areas, there has been limited or no access to people.”
Help needed
Amos, made the first black female British Cabinet minister by former British premier Tony Blair, has found that Syria is occupying much of her time. In December, she announced a donor fundraising goal of $13 billion (Dh47.7 billion) for 2014, the most ever requested, half of it just for Syria.
“Our fundraising target of $13 billion is for all our appeals around the world in 2014. Of this, we are requesting $6.5 billion to respond to the needs of Syrians, both inside the country and Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey.
“Donors, including many from the Gulf region, have already demonstrated their generosity by pledging $2.3 billion towards humanitarian aid in Syria and the region at the donor conference in Kuwait on January 15.
“We are counting on their continued generosity to meet the needs, which will continue to grow unless the fighting stops and there is a political solution to the crisis. But even if the fighting ends tomorrow, we will still need billions of dollars to support people who have lost their homes and livelihoods.”
When asked by Gulf News why it is easier to access, collect and deal with chemical weapons than to deal with and access civilians, Amos said: “That’s a question I have been asked many times by Syrians, and I myself have asked the Security Council.”