GENEVA / ALEPPO AID WORKERS

Download

There is no media available to download.

Request footage
At least 18 of 31 trucks in a joint UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) convoy were hit on Monday night after an airstrike on the rebel held Orem al Kubra town in Aleppo Governorate in Syria, causing the death of several civilians and one humanitarian worker. A SARC warehouse was also hit. As a consequence the UN has suspended aid convoys in Syria, “pending further assessment of the security situation.” UNTV CH
Description

STORY: GENEVA / ALEPPO AID WORKERS
TRT: 4:11
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 20 SEPTEMBER 2016 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

View moreView less
Shotlist

1. Exterior, Palais des Nations
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Benoit Carpentier, Spokesperson of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC):
“At approximately 10:15 pm the UN received initial reports by local resources that were soon confirmed by the UN aerial transportation company, SARC (Syrian Arab Red Crescent), ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) and UN team in Aleppo that air strikes hit the trucks while they were been unloaded as well as the SARC warehouse in Orem-al-Kubra. Immediately media reported that the convoy was hit and a short video of three trucks burning. More tragically and devastating is that the head of the SARC Orem sub-branch succumbed to his injuries and died. Several civilians were also killed and injured. The SARC Orem warehouse and 18 out of the 31 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies were burnt and destroyed”.
3. Medium shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Benoit Carpentier, Spokesperson of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC):
“Today the Red Cross and the Red Crescent is mourning in solidarity with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent we are appealing to the whole world to ensure the protection of humanitarian aid workers and volunteers. We are not part of this conflict, we are part of humanity. Syria is one of the most dangerous conflicts for humanitarian workers in the world. In the past 6 years 54 staff and volunteers of SARC lost their lives while carrying life- saving duty”.
5. Close up, hands typing
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“First of all it is important to stress that this particular convoy was what we call fully de-conflicted. What does that mean? That means that all approvals had been obtained by the government and the authorities, and every single partner or party to the conflict, men wearing weapons or having access to lethal weapons, had been notified, duly notified about this. This notification of convoys also extends to and through the Russians and the Americans”.
7. Wide shot, journalists
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“If this cowardice attack is found to be a deliberate targeting of humanitarians it would amount to a war crime. I call for an immediate and impartial and independent investigation into this deadly incident. The perpetrators should know that they will one day be held accountable for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law”.
9. Medium shot, journalists
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“This very very dark day for humanitarians in Syria and across the world, because I think there has been a moment of shock and frankly disgust by this attack, at this point we remain committed and undeterred to continue to the best of our ability to help all Syrians in need.”
11. Medium shot, journalists
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Christian Lindmeier, Spokesperson for the World Health Organisation (WHO):
“We had nine tons of life saving items on the convoy, which could have provided up to nearly 58 000 treatments covered 250 trauma including medicines for urgent care, that includes all these emergency health kits, trauma kits, burned kits, IV fluids, as well as medication for non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular and hypertension and the usual medicaments as antibiotics, pain killers, vitamins, and so on and so forth. All this was supposed to have been on the convoy, but I do not have a breakdown what got destroyed and what did not get destroyed”.
13. Medium shot, journalists

View moreView less
Storyline

At least 18 of 31 trucks in a joint UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) convoy were hit on Monday night after an airstrike on the rebel held Orem al Kubra town in Aleppo Governorate in Syria, causing the death of several civilians and one humanitarian worker. A SARC warehouse was also hit. As a consequence the UN has suspended aid convoys in Syria, “pending further assessment of the security situation”.

The UN-SARC convoy was struck while delivering vital aid for 78,000 people in the hard-to-reach town of Orem al-Kubra.

Speaking to media in Geneva, Benoit Carpentier, Spokesperson of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies today (20 Sep) said that “at approximately 10:15 pm the UN received initial reports by local resources that were soon confirmed by the UN aerial transportation company, SARC (Syrian Arab Red Crescent), ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) and UN team in Aleppo that air strikes hit the trucks while they were been unloaded as well as the SARC warehouse in Orem-al-Kubra. Immediately media reported that the convoy was hit and a short video of three trucks burning. More tragically and devastating is that the head of the SARC Orem sub-branch succumbed to his injuries and died. Several civilians were also killed and injured. The SARC Orem warehouse and 18 out of the 31 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies were burnt and destroyed.”

Quoting Tadateru Konoé, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Carpentier said that “today the Red Cross and the Red Crescent is mourning in solidarity with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent we are appealing to the whole world to ensure the protection of humanitarian aid workers and volunteers. We are not part of this conflict, we are part of humanity. Syria is one of the most dangerous conflicts for humanitarian workers in the world. In the past 6 years 54 staff and volunteers of SARC lost their lives while carrying life- saving duty.”

Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stressed that “first of all it is important to stress that this particular convoy was what we call fully de-conflicted. What does that mean? That means that all approvals had been obtained by the government and the authorities, and every single partner or party to the conflict, men wearing weapons or having access to lethal weapons, had been notified, duly notified about this. This notification of convoys also extends to and through the Russians and the Americans.”

Citing Steven O’Brien, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Laerke said that “If this cowardly attack is found to be a deliberate targeting of humanitarians it would amount to a war crime. I call for an immediate and impartial and independent investigation into this deadly incident. The perpetrators should know that they will one day be held accountable for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”

Laerke described the attack on the aid convoy as a “very very dark day for humanitarians in Syria and across the world, because I think there has been a moment of shock and frankly disgust by this attack, at this point we remain committed and undeterred to continue to the best of our ability to help all Syrians in need.”

The convoy was loaded with food, as well as non-food items such as blankets and medical items. Christian Lindmeier from the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that “we had nine tons of life saving items on the convoy, which could have provided up to nearly 58 000 treatments covered 250 trauma including medicines for urgent care, that includes all these emergency health kits, trauma kits, burned kits, IV fluids, as well as medication for non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular and hypertension and the usual medicaments as antibiotics, pain killers, vitamins, and so on and so forth. All this was supposed to have been on the convoy, but I do not have a breakdown what got destroyed and what did not get destroyed.”

View moreView less
14287
Production Date
Creator
UNTV CH
Alternate Title
unifeed160920a
Geographic Subject
MAMS Id
1711691
Parent Id
1711691