UN HUMANITARIAN LEADERS CALL FOR THE RENEWAL OF CROSS-BORDER AID AUTHORIZATION TO NORTHWEST SYRIA

(New York/Geneva/Rome, 16 June 2022): In less than a month, the Security Council resolution that allows the United Nationsand our implementing partners to provide lifesavinghumanitarian aid to northwest Syria from across the border with Türkiye will expire.

The 15-member Security Council will decide whether to renew it or not. 

This decision is critical for the lives and wellbeing of 4.1 million people trapped in the non-Government-controlled northwest of Syria bordering Türkiye. Many rely on humanitarian aid to survive, especially people who are displaced. Some 80 per centof those in need are women and children. Over 3.2 million people are food insecure and need food assistance. 

Our priority and only goal is to get humanitarian aid to familieswho need it in the safest, most direct and efficient way, away from political calculations or agendas. Last year alone, critical aid from the UN and our partners crossed the border into northwest Syria helping and protecting 2.4 million people each month. 

Over the past year, we were able to send convoys from Government-controlled areas of Syria across internal frontlines into northwest Syria with nutrition, health, food and education supplies for more than 40,000 people. That is welcome progress,and we continue to increase these deliveries. However, much more is needed.

In addition to the important assistance provided via convoys, affected people also need comprehensive access to basic services.

We urge the members of the Security Council to renew UNSecurity Council Resolution 2585, authorizing continued cross-border assistance for an additional 12 months. We must alsosecure regular access to northwest Syria from Government-controlled areas. We must increase the number of channels of humanitarian assistance and maximize humanitarian access.

Failure to renew the resolution will have dire humanitarian consequences. It will immediately disrupt the UN’s lifesavingaid operation, plunging people in northwest Syria into deeper misery and threatening their access to the food, medical care, clean water, shelter, and protection from gender-based violencecurrently offered by UN-backed operations. 

Over the years, funding for this lifeline operation has been dwindling. Amid other critical crises globally, we call for predictable funding to support the delivery of assistance to northwest Syria.

The lives of millions of people depend on it. 

We are counting on members of the Security Council to enableour vital work to continue. The people of Syria will be counting on them to make the right choice. 

END

Signed by

• Martin Griffiths, Emergency Relief Coordinator, OCHA

• Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF

• Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, UNFPA

• António Vitorino, Director General, IOM

• David Beasley, Executive Director, WFP

• Filippo Grande, High Commissioner, UNHCR

• Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, WHO