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UN / ALEPPO O'BRIEN WRAP
STORY: UN / ALEPPO O’BRIEN WRAP
TRT: 4:00
SOURCE: UNIFEED / OHCHR / FILE
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 SEPTEMBER 2016, NEW YORK CITY / 26 SEPTEMBER 2016 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
RECENT - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
29 SEPTEMBER 2016, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“It is now a legitimate question to ask whether there is any level of disaster and death that can be visited upon the Syrian people that might prompt the parties to this conflict, and by extension the international community, to identify a red line that will not be crossed. This is not a distant conflict in which we as a community have only a passing stake - this is a critical test of the capacity and willingness of those in this chamber to make a decision and take action. To manifestly uphold the words of the Charter to which all nations are bound: to save the Syrian people from the scourge of war.”
4. Med shot, Russian delegate
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“The alleged use of new ‘bunker busting’ bombs has reportedly caused mass destruction in an area that has already been decimated. This means that I have received reports that there are bodies of babies, children, women, and men stuck unrecovered in the rubble of the basements up to 20 metres down where they had taken refuge and where they had been safe until the use of these new and recently introduced weapons had claimed their lives.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“The only remaining deterrent it seems is that there will be real accountability in the court of world opinion and disgust - goodness knows nothing else seems to be working to stop this deliberate, gratuitous carnage of lives lost and smashed.”
8. Med shot, United States and United Kingdom ambassadors
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
“Let me be clear, east Aleppo this minute is not at the edge of the precipice, it is well into its terrible descent into the pitiless and merciless abyss of a humanitarian catastrophe unlike any we. Have witnessed in Syria, with no access by the UN since the seventh of July, and the health sector in east Aleppo is reportedly on the very verge of total collapse.”
10. Wide shot, people in attendance of meeting
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Stephen O’Brien, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations:
(Soundbite starts under cutaway) “The images of Alan Kurdi, Omran Daqneesh and now Rawan Alowsh might have captured fleeting global attention and be seared into our consciences, but they are neither isolated nor exceptional cases, but emblematic of the horrific murder and abuse of children by the parties to this conflict. Rescue teams are finding children every day under piles of rubble amid the inferno and choking dust of east Aleppo.”
12. Pan left, Ja’afari approaching stakeout
13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar Ja’afari, Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations:
“We don’t need humanitarian assistance, we need to put an end to this terrorist war imposed against us. We did not choose this war. It is an imposed terrorist war against the Syrian people and the Syrian government. So the issue for us is not about declaring a cessation of hostilities in Aleppo for 48 hours or 24 hours or one week or 7 days or 10 days. This is not the main issue. The main issue for us is how to stop this terrorist war against our country.”
FILE – UNICEF - 16 MARCH 2015, ALEPPO, SYRIA
14. Close-up, extremely malnourished baby being screened with MUAC (Mid-Upper Arm Circumference)
15. Close-up, extremely malnourished baby being fed RUTF (Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods)
OHCHR - 26 SEPTEMBER 2016 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
14. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Abdurrahman Alomar, Syrian Paediatrician:
“We know inside Syria that the health workers are the most targeted people. Sometimes they are more targeted than military soldiers because the presence of health services is so important for life. If there are no health services, everything will stop.”
FILE – UNICEF - MARCH 2016 - ALEPPO, SYRIA
15. Wide shot, boy walking through rubble
The United Nations (UN) humanitarian chief questioned whether there was “any level of disaster and death” in the Syria that would prompt the parties to the conflict and the international community to identify a “red line that will not be crossed.”
Speaking to the Security Council today (29 Sep) via video conference from Geneva, Stephen O’Brien said he had received reports that the “bodies of babies, children, women, and men “were stuck 20 metres under rubble due to the alleged use of “bunker busting bombs” in Eastern Aleppo. He said evidence was being collected to bring those who committed war crimes during the conflict to justice. He said the only remaining “deterrent it seems is that there will be real accountability in the court of world opinion and disgust - goodness knows nothing else seems to be working to stop this deliberate, gratuitous carnage of lives lost and smashed.”
O’Brien said eastern Aleppo was well into its “terrible descent into the pitiless and merciless abyss of a humanitarian catastrophe unlike any we have witnessed in Syria.” He said patients were being turned away from or treated on the floors of the few remaining health facilities. He said deaths had been reported from malnutrition, disease, and “poisoning by those scavenging for food” and water borne diseases were expected “imminently to rise dramatically.”
The humanitarian chief said it was time to recognise the “horror unfolding before our eyes” and restore a cessation of hostilities to save lives. He said if that is not possible than at least a 48 hour weekly pause should be agree upon. O’Brien added that while this was the responsibility of the parties to the conflict, the united stance of the Security Council would “unlock the chance to make that happen.” He said, “Anything less will leave this Council today on the wrong side of history.”
Syrian ambassador Bashar Ja’afari told reporters following the meeting that “terrorists” not his government bombed civilians and humanitarian convoys and Western allies “know that very well.” He said American policies in his country and Iraq had led to the “spread of ISIS terrorism all over the world.” Ja’afari said his government was “obliged” by the Syrian constitution and the UN charter to combat terrorism and would continue to press on. He said, “We don’t need humanitarian assistance, we need to put an end to this terrorist war imposed against us.”
Meanwhile a Syrian doctor working in Aleppo said there were only 30 doctors left in the city serving “more than 300,000 people under the heaviest bombardment in this century.” Doctor Abdurrahman Alomar said health workers in the country were sometimes “more targeted than military soldiers.” He said people in Aleppo were living in a “big prison” and moved from one neighbourhood to another to avoid bombardment.
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