UN / SYRIA POLITICAL HUMANITARIAN

A top UN official told the Security Council that Syria is in a “grave crisis and none of its myriad problems can be sustainably addressed without a political solution.” UNIFEED

• Video Length: 00:02:47
• Production Date: 25 June 2024
• Asset Language: English; Arabic
• Personal Subject: NAJAT ROCHDI; RAMESH RAJASINGHAM
• Corporate Name: OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS - OCHA
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; ARMED CONFLICTS; HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE; HUMAN RIGHTS; PEACE PROCESS
• Geographic Subject: SYRIA
• MAMS Id: 3226678
• Parent Id: 3226678
• Alternate Title: unifeed240625c

Description

STORY: UN / SYRIA POLITICAL HUMANITARIAN
TRT: 02:47
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 25 JUNE 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters

24 JUNE 2024, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Security Council, Deputy Special Envoy Najat Rochdi on screen
3. Wide shot, OCHA’s Ramesh Rajasingham
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Najat Rochdi, Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria:
“Syria is in a grave crisis and none of its myriad problems can be sustainably addressed without a political solution. The voices of Syrians inside and outside need not only to be heard but heeded. Many Syrians are living in a climate of fear because of the security situation which continues to be tense and violent.”
5. Wide shot, Council
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Najat Rochdi, Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria:
“Syrians need unimpeded aid access through all modalities – cross-border and cross-line. We are seeing repeated denials for cross-line convoys by parties across all Syria – depriving communities from life-saving aid, including in Rukban camp where the situation is particularly dire.”
7. Wide shot, Council
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Najat Rochdi, Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria:
“The sheer scale of the file of missing persons, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances in Syria is a reminder that no sustainable political solution can move forward without the engagement of all conflict actors to start substantively addressing this tragedy. And no lasting reconciliation is possible without addressing the frozen grief of the families of the missing.”
9. Wide shot, Council
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ramesh Rajasingham, Director of Coordination, United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA):
“Syria is facing its highest levels of humanitarian need since the start of this thirteen-year crisis, and the situation only continues to deteriorate as each month passes. The need for conditions more conducive to an efficient humanitarian response has never been greater. This requires absolute respect for international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and unhindered humanitarian access. It also requires sufficient resources so we can continue to provide critical assistance to the millions of people who need it.”
11. Wide shot, Council
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Qusay al-Dahhak, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Syria:
“Our Arab region is witnessing a new stage of instability and is facing the dangers of a downward spiral towards an all-out escalation as a result of the barbaric crimes that the Israeli occupation continues to perpetrate in Gaza and the West Bank and the current threats it is making against Lebanon in terms of launching a full scale military operation and its continued aggression on our country, Syria”
13. Wide shot, Council dais

Storyline

A top UN official told the Security Council today (25 Jun) that Syria is in a “grave crisis and none of its myriad problems can be sustainably addressed without a political solution.”

Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria Najat Rochdi told the Council that “he voices of Syrians inside and outside need not only to be heard but heeded,” and stressed that “many Syrians are living in a climate of fear because of the security situation which continues to be tense and violent.”

Rochdi described a series of escalatory incidents, including airstrikes attributed to Israel in Aleppo and in southern Syria, missile strikes attributed to pro-Government forces in the northwest, drone strikes attributed to Türkiye in northeast Syria, three Russian airstrikes near al-Tanf, violent clashes in Sweida, as well as rocket attacks on Government security installations.

She said, “Syrians need unimpeded aid access through all modalities – cross-border and cross-line. We are seeing repeated denials for cross-line convoys by parties across all Syria – depriving communities from life-saving aid, including in Rukban camp where the situation is particularly dire.”

The Deputy Special Envoy told the Council that the “sheer scale of the file of missing persons, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances in Syria is a reminder that no sustainable political solution can move forward without the engagement of all conflict actors to start substantively addressing this tragedy, and that “no lasting reconciliation is possible without addressing the frozen grief of the families of the missing.”

Rochdi called for sustained de-escalation and the maintenance of calm towards a nationwide ceasefire and for the Constitutional Committee to be reconvened.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA’s) Director of Coordination Ramesh Rajasingham said, “Syria is facing its highest levels of humanitarian need since the start of this thirteen-year crisis, and the situation only continues to deteriorate as each month passes.”

Rajasingham said, “the need for conditions more conducive to an efficient humanitarian response has never been greater” which requires “absolute respect for international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and unhindered humanitarian access,” as well as, “sufficient resources so we can continue to provide critical assistance to the millions of people who need it.”

Halfway through the year, UN’s humanitarian appeal remains less than 13 per cent funded.

For his part, Syrian Ambassador Qusay al-Dahhak told the Council that the Arab region is “witnessing a new stage of instability and is facing the dangers of a downward spiral towards an all-out escalation as a result of the barbaric crimes that the Israeli occupation continues to perpetrate in Gaza and the West Bank and the current threats it is making against Lebanon in terms of launching a full scale military operation and its continued aggression on our country, Syria.”