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UN / SYRIA HUMANITARIAN UPDATE
STORY: UN / SYRIA HUMANITARIAN UPDATE
TRT: 03:50
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 27 MAY 2016, NEW YORK CITY
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ
27 MAY 2016, NEW YORK CITY
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“I sat down at Dr. Mazin’s bedside as he struggled for life with appalling and severe brain, abdominal and facial wounds after he was struck by an airstrike on Al Quds hospital in eastern Aleppo on 27 April as he was bravely himself saving lives. A bare whisper is all he could muster: ‘please, peace’.”
3. Med shot, representatives
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“The Syrian Government has severely curtailed the UN’s ability to reach those in need. A convoy and assessment mission to Darayya – where 4,000 civilians have been besieged for almost four years – scheduled for 12 May had to be aborted due to unconscionable last-minute restrictions imposed by government security forces. At the last check-point, government forces removed all basic supplies, including nutritional items for infants. No other conclusion can be drawn other than that this was simply an effort to further punish civilians – and this time infants.”
5. Med shot, representatives
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“These restrictions are not only violations of earlier guarantees and approvals obtained from the Syrian Government and other parties, they are actions deliberately and cynically designed to inflict more unnecessary suffering on civilians living in besieged and hard-to-reach locations.”
7. Med shot, representatives
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar Al Ja’afari, Permanent Representative, Syria:
“The allegation that the Syrian Government did not allow the delivery of aid to the town of Darayya is completely false and is clearly deceptive. The Syrian Government allowed the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to enter Darayya on the 17th of this month, the 17th of May to deliver the humanitarian assistance agreed upon. However, the ICRC representative informed the Syrian Foreign Ministry that they could not enter Darayya for logistical, admistrative, and security reasons, as he said.”
9. Med shot, representatives
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar Al Ja’afari, Permanent Representative, Syria:
“The United Nations received approvals for 19 out of 26 requests. However, the United Nations did not carry out as of the 24th of this month, two days ago, except three joint humanitarian convoys. Only three out of the 26 convoys the UN requested. The Syrian government approved 19; the United Nations implemented just three convoys.”
11. Wide shot, Security Council
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Samantha Power, Permanent Representative, United States:
“I think there is some irony in a government that pulls infant formula off of convoys, anasthetics and surgical equipment, and doesn’t even deign to respond to successive UN requests, accusing the UN of just not showing up with convoys when there are people starving.”
13. Wide shot, Security Council
14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar Al Ja’afari, Permanent Representative, Syria:
“We are proud that we were among the founding members to this organization, and we fiercely defended it, and still do, however the United Nations is not filled with angels. There are devils in this international organization, and when I speak about any shortcomings in this organization, I mean by that those devils in particular.”
15. Zoom out, Security Council
United Nations (UN) Humanitarian Chief Steven O’Brien said “the Syrian Government has severely curtailed the UN’s ability to reach those in need.” Briefing the Security Council via teleconference from Geneva, O’Brien said indiscriminate attacks on civilians, schools, hospitals, mosques, and public markets continued in the country with impunity and total disregard for international humanitarian law.
O’Brien said what he saw in a recent visit to Turkey was “harrowing”. He said refugee families were traumatized by the effects of five years of constant war. He promised to bring their stories to the Council, but said he had “run out of words to fully explain how the actions of the parties to the conflict have led to the devastation of a country and its people.”
The Humanitarian Chief said some 592,700 people in Syria were currently living in besieged areas, including over 452,000 besieged by the Syrian Government. He said the punishment of civilians through besiegement tactics must stop immediately and placed the primary responsibility on the party who maintains the siege, and routinely and systematically denies people the basic necessities of life and freedom of movement.
O’Brien said the UN had submitted requests to reach people in 35 besieged areas in May, but was granted access to only 14 locations representing only 40 percent of the target population. He called on the Syrian Government to approve requests to access 34 locations in June.
O’Brien added that medical supplies for over 650,000 treatments had been removed from aid convoys. He said, “These restrictions are not only violations of earlier guarantees and approvals obtained from the Syrian Government and other parties, they are actions deliberately and cynically designed to inflict more unnecessary suffering on civilians living in besieged and hard-to-reach locations.”
Syrian Ambassador Bashar Al Ja’afari said he was surprised by what the Humanitarian Chief reported from his visit to Turkey. He asked where the billions of dollars that were pledged to aid Syrian refugees went. He said despite discussing the issue with O’Brien, the Under-Secretary-General was “apparently not aware” of the fact that Turkish authorities were facilitating the recruitment of child soldiers and using their territory to transport weapons and foreign terrorist fighters including through corridors used by the UN to deliver humanitarian aid.
Ja’afari called claims that his government did not allow aid delivery to the town of Darayya “completely false and clearly deceptive.” He said the Syrian Government approved 19 out of 26 UN requests but only three convoys were carried out. He added that his government allowed medical supplies to be delivered “except those that are used by terrorist groups.”
Ja’afari said “the United Nations is not filled with angels”, adding that when he refers to “shortcomings”, it is point out “those devils” in the organization.
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