7955th Security Council Meeting: Situation in Middle East; Syria

Fighting in Syria remains devastating for civilians, even after declaration of ceasefire, Under-Secretary-General tells Security Council at 7955th meeting.

• Categories: Meetings & Events / Security Council
• Video Length: 01:56:14
• Production Date: 30 May 2017
• Asset Language: Arabic; Chinese; English; French; Russian; Spanish
• Personal Subject: STEPHEN O'BRIEN
• Subject Topical: CEASEFIRES; HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
• Geographic Subject: MIDDLE EAST; SYRIA
• MAMS Id: 1896812
• Parent Id: 1896187

Description

Secretary-General’s Report Reflects Effort to Deform Reality, Says Representative...

Notwithstanding the ceasefire declared in 2016, fighting in several areas of Syria continued to devastate civilians, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council today, citing casualties caused by terrorist attacks and by air strikes designed to counter them.

Delivering a briefing, Stephen O’Brien, who is also Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said 30 women and children had been injured in Deir ez-Zor just last week, in an attack by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh). Presenting the Secretary-General’s latest report (document S/2017/445), he said more than 100 civilians had fallen victim to recent counter-ISIL air strikes, in both Deir ez-Zor and Al-Raqqa. “We need to see a step-change in access to the increasingly dire situation in north-eastern Syria, he said, calling for access through every possible modality, the easing of restrictions, and greater cross-border access for aid, including land access from Aleppo.

According to the Astana memorandum agreed by Iran, the Russian Federation and Turkey on the creation of four de-escalation areas, he said, fighting must decrease significantly and humanitarian access must be unhindered. “This agreement must succeed,” he emphasized, while pointing out that delays by the Government of Syria in approving facilitation letters and convoy plans continued to hamper efforts. “We are essentially down to one cross-line convoy per week,” he said, noting also that the Government’s removal of life-saving medicine and medical supplies from convoy continued unabated. Attacks against hospitals and health facilities had continued at a rate of 20 per month between January and April. The Council must ensure that the delivery of humanitarian assistance was outside political and military calculations.

In the ensuing discussion, delegates renewed calls for all parties to ease restrictions on aid, with some stressing that the drop in violence should have already prompted greater humanitarian access. Egypt’s representative called upon the guarantors of the Astana de-escalation memorandum to facilitate its humanitarian provisions.

On that point, France’s representative urged the guarantors to impose the cessation of hostilities on the Syrian regime, saying the latter continued to block aid convoys. He added that the local evacuation agreements concluded by the regime, after having starved people for years, had resulted in large-scale displacements, cautioning that such forced movements could constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.

The representative of the United States described the crematorium built in Syria’s Sednaya prison to dispose of victims’ bodies as the most persuasive indicator of the “hell” in Syria. The Russian Federation and Iran had either helped as the Syrian Government committed some of history’s worst war crimes, or looked away, she said.

Meanwhile, the Russian Federation’s representative blamed clashes between rival groups for delays in the delivery of aid, asking how long it would be before those who had trained the armed Syrian opposition “knocked some sense into them”. He added that it was “borderline insulting” for Western partners to turn Council meetings into a platform from which to launch accusations against his country, emphasizing that they would do better to explain the steps they were taking to advance a political solution.

Syria’s representative said that the Secretary-General’s latest report on the situation in his country reflected the positions of certain parties and States that sought deliberately to deform reality. They accused Syria of laying siege on its own territory, when in fact, the besieged areas were occupied by armed terrorist groups that used civilians as human shields and resold humanitarian assistance at exorbitant prices.

“Our efforts have made it possible for peace to return to many cities and villages,” he emphasized. Syria had offered options for disarming, settling the situation without judicial process, and leaving, he said, noting that civilians had gone on to resume their normal lives. Syria had always been the victim of lies told by countries that did not wish to end the suffering. They preferred direct terrorism, investing in terrorist groups and imposing an economic blockade, he added.

Also speaking today were representatives of Sweden, Japan, United Kingdom, China, Italy, Ethiopia, Senegal, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Bolivia and Uruguay.

The meeting began at 3:07 p.m. and ended at 5:04 p.m.