NEW YORK CITY: The UN on Monday called for renewed diplomatic efforts to reignite the stalled Syrian peace process, emphasizing the critical need for substantive engagement and coordination among all stakeholders to address the humanitarian crisis in the country and move forward on the path outlined in Security Council Resolution 2254.
Geir Pedersen, the UN’s Special Envoy for Syria, highlighted the potential for a renewed diplomatic process to act as a “circuit breaker,” provided there is substantial engagement. He therefore called on all parties involved in the dispute to come to the negotiating table and “be ready to offer a genuine contribution.”
The primary goals, said Pedersen, are the resumption of the UN-facilitated intra-Syrian political process, in particular through the reconvening of the Constitutional Committee, and the implementation of confidence-building measures.
Addressing the “dire and worsening humanitarian situation is not only a humanitarian necessity but would give some confidence that progress on political issues is also possible,” he added.
His remarks came during a Security Council meeting on Syria, two weeks after council members failed to agree an extension of a major cross-border mechanism that for years allowed international humanitarian aid to enter northwestern Syria from Turkey and reach more 4 million people in need in opposition-held areas.
Pedersen expressed deep disappointment at the council’s failure to re-authorize the Bab Al-Hawa crossing, which he described as “a lifeline for millions of civilians.” He urged the international community to step up its efforts to ensure the humanitarian assistance continues to flow across borders.
“As the political envoy, I profoundly hope that all doors are kept open to resolve this issue and that the council and all stakeholders put the needs of the Syrians first,” he said.
“We must redouble efforts to find a solution that ensures the continued delivery of cross-border and cross-line humanitarian assistance. Nothing is more important right now for the most vulnerable Syrians than this.”
Cross-border aid is delivered directly to recipients after entering the country, whereas cross-line aid goes through the regime in Damascus first.
On the political front, Pedersen lamented the fact that “months of potentially significant diplomacy have not translated into concrete outcomes for Syrians on the ground — at home or abroad — or real moves in the political process. I hope they will soon because, if not, it will be another missed opportunity to help the Syrian conflict to come to a negotiated end, at a time when the impact of the crisis is deepening.”
One critical aspect of a renewed political process, he said, would be the reconvening of the Constitutional Committee. He called for political will to overcome disputes over details such as the venue, and urged all stakeholders to support the resumption of the committee in an effort to make credible progress. The constitutional-reform process is essential for determining the future of Syria and laying the groundwork for reconciliation and stability, Pedersen added.
Meanwhile, the council heard the humanitarian situation in northwestern Syria remains dire, with 4.1 million out of 4.6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, nearly 80 percent of whom are women and children.
The UN has long stressed the urgent need to ensure humanitarian access to the country is available through all available routes, cross-border and cross-line, to help meet the escalating aid requirements.
Ramesh Rajasingham, the head and representative of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva, also expressed disappointment at the Council’s failure to extend the mandate for the Bab Al-Hawa as he called for the continuation of cross-border assistance.
“As has been said so many times in this chamber, cross-border aid is a matter of life and death for millions of people in northwestern Syria,” he told council members.
“The future of cross-border assistance should not be a political decision but a humanitarian one.”
Soon after Russia used its power of veto on July 11 to block a resolution that would have extended the mandate for operations at Bab Al-Hawa, the Syrian government sent a letter to the UN granting permission for aid to enter through the crossing anyway. However, the organization’s reaction to the letter was cautious, on the grounds that it included restrictions that it feared could hinder relief efforts and put humanitarian workers, including UN staff, at risk.
The letter also called on UN not to work with “terrorists” in the area, a term used by the regime of President Bashar Assad to describe its opponents.
The UK, which holds the rotating presidency of the council in July, was swift to rebuke the move by the Syrian government, warning that “without UN monitoring, control of this critical lifeline has been handed to the man responsible for the Syrian people’s suffering.”
Britain’s permanent representative to the UN, Barbara Woodward, who is president of the council this month, added: “We will not hesitate to bring this back to the Security Council.”
Rajasingham said that UN cross-border operations must be free to adhere to the humanitarian principles of “humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence.”
This is in keeping with the wider UN emphasis on the importance of preserving the independence of aid operations and maintaining “whole of Syria” response architecture to ensure assistance can reach all those in need.
UN staff, relief supplies and protection assistance continue to enter northwestern Syria though the Bab Al-Salam and Al-Ra’ee border crossings, for which the Syrian gave temporary permission following the devastating earthquakes that hit parts of northern Syria and southern Turkey in February. However, Rajasingham said that the short duration of the permission for these cross-border operations, which is due to expire in mid-August, poses serious challenges to humanitarian efforts, including funding, logistics and procurement. He called for greater predictability when granting cross-border permissions to ensure effective humanitarian responses.
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Representative to the UN, criticized Russia for blocking the council’s efforts to extend the mandate for cross-border relief operations, and accused Moscow of having little regard for the needs of vulnerable people.
She said Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s grain infrastructure and the effects they have had on the world’s food supplies have made the situation faced by Syrians and people in other areas a lot worse.
She also expressed reservations about the Assad regime’s offer to allow UN aid deliveries to continue through Bab Al-Hawa, citing the “unacceptable” restrictions that would hinder relief efforts and put humanitarians at risk.
The US joined other major donors in demanding key conditions for any cross-border access arrangement, including the preservation of the independence of operations, the maintenance of a “Whole of Syria” response architecture, and long-term and consistent assistance for deliveries based on humanitarian principles.
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, told his fellow council members that Syria’s return to the Arab fold has created an atmosphere in the Middle East conducive to a resolution of the Syrian crisis. He called on Western countries not to obstruct “these natural processes” and to refrain from politicizing humanitarian issues, such as early recovery and the return of refugees.
Regarding the cross-border mechanism, Polyanskiy said he had “nothing new to add.” Moscow is pleased that humanitarian operations will now be coordinated in the same way they are “in any other country” in the world, he added, through the consent of the country’s government.
He said the UN has “all the necessary tools” to do its work, and urged OCHA not to “do the bidding of Western states.”
