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The New York Times
March 29 2014
U.N. Official Denounces Syria on Aid Access
By SOMINI SENGUPTAMARCH 28, 2014
UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations chief of emergency relief was
unusually forthright on Friday in criticizing the Syrian government's
blocking of humanitarian aid, pointing to its denials of access and
continued use of barrel bombs -- both blatant violations of
international law.
Valerie Amos, undersecretary general for emergency relief, spoke to
reporters after briefing the 15-member Security Council about how the
warring parties in Syria have complied with the council's Feb. 22
resolution ordering the unimpeded flow of aid.
Ms. Amos did not say which side deserved more blame. She did say that
"the continued withholding of consent" was "arbitrary and
unjustified," clearly suggesting that she considered it illegal. And
in a 14-page report presented to the council earlier this week, her
office cited examples of the Syrian government's noncooperation:
Repeated requests for permission for aid convoys to enter border
crossings have been ignored, food aid has been held up at checkpoints,
and medicines have even been removed from aid trucks.
But on Friday, she also pointed to opposition transgressions. A
rebel-led offensive near the border with Turkey, she said, caused
thousands of people to flee, including members of the minority
Armenian community.
The Syrian ambassador, Bashar al-Jaafari, praised Ms. Amos for noting
violations by the rebels, but demanded angrily that they be referred
to as terrorists, not opposition forces.
Still, neither the report nor Ms. Amos's remarks contained much praise
for the government. Ms. Amos said United Nations aid agencies had been
able to reach only 6 percent of the more than 200,000 people living in
besieged areas, and her report stated that the bulk of the besieged
had been cut off by the government.
Ms. Amos noted, too, that after months of negotiations, the government
had opened only one border crossing, and only for a few days, to allow
the delivery of food and aid to the northern part of the country, near
Turkey.
"I told the council that we need to see a significant step change in
the speed and scale of humanitarian aid if we are to save lives and
keep pace with the ever-growing needs," she said.
Council members were less forceful on what they would do, and several
Western diplomats who had threatened to pursue additional measures if
the warring parties defied the legally binding resolution were more
subdued on Friday. Russia would veto any action that singled out the
Syrian government for noncompliance.
Samantha Power, the American ambassador to the United Nations,
expressed frustration, saying, "There's nothing that I can do and that
we can do unilaterally to make the council do what we want."
Vitaly I. Churkin, the Russian envoy, who had agreed to the resolution
only after automatic enforcement language was stripped out, said
before the meeting that "progress" had been made on allowing access.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/world/middleeast/un-official-denounces-syria-on-aid-access.html?_r=0
From: A. Papazian
March 29 2014
U.N. Official Denounces Syria on Aid Access
By SOMINI SENGUPTAMARCH 28, 2014
UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations chief of emergency relief was
unusually forthright on Friday in criticizing the Syrian government's
blocking of humanitarian aid, pointing to its denials of access and
continued use of barrel bombs -- both blatant violations of
international law.
Valerie Amos, undersecretary general for emergency relief, spoke to
reporters after briefing the 15-member Security Council about how the
warring parties in Syria have complied with the council's Feb. 22
resolution ordering the unimpeded flow of aid.
Ms. Amos did not say which side deserved more blame. She did say that
"the continued withholding of consent" was "arbitrary and
unjustified," clearly suggesting that she considered it illegal. And
in a 14-page report presented to the council earlier this week, her
office cited examples of the Syrian government's noncooperation:
Repeated requests for permission for aid convoys to enter border
crossings have been ignored, food aid has been held up at checkpoints,
and medicines have even been removed from aid trucks.
But on Friday, she also pointed to opposition transgressions. A
rebel-led offensive near the border with Turkey, she said, caused
thousands of people to flee, including members of the minority
Armenian community.
The Syrian ambassador, Bashar al-Jaafari, praised Ms. Amos for noting
violations by the rebels, but demanded angrily that they be referred
to as terrorists, not opposition forces.
Still, neither the report nor Ms. Amos's remarks contained much praise
for the government. Ms. Amos said United Nations aid agencies had been
able to reach only 6 percent of the more than 200,000 people living in
besieged areas, and her report stated that the bulk of the besieged
had been cut off by the government.
Ms. Amos noted, too, that after months of negotiations, the government
had opened only one border crossing, and only for a few days, to allow
the delivery of food and aid to the northern part of the country, near
Turkey.
"I told the council that we need to see a significant step change in
the speed and scale of humanitarian aid if we are to save lives and
keep pace with the ever-growing needs," she said.
Council members were less forceful on what they would do, and several
Western diplomats who had threatened to pursue additional measures if
the warring parties defied the legally binding resolution were more
subdued on Friday. Russia would veto any action that singled out the
Syrian government for noncompliance.
Samantha Power, the American ambassador to the United Nations,
expressed frustration, saying, "There's nothing that I can do and that
we can do unilaterally to make the council do what we want."
Vitaly I. Churkin, the Russian envoy, who had agreed to the resolution
only after automatic enforcement language was stripped out, said
before the meeting that "progress" had been made on allowing access.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/world/middleeast/un-official-denounces-syria-on-aid-access.html?_r=0
From: A. Papazian