UN wants 12-month extension of Syria aid deliveries from Turkey

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths pushed the Security Council on Thursday to extend for 12 months its approval of a long-running humanitarian aid operation that delivers help to millions of people in northwest Syria from Turkey.

Authorisation by the 15-member council is needed because Syrian authorities did not agree to the UN operation, which has been delivering aid including food, medicine and shelter to opposition-controlled areas of Syria since 2014.

"A 12-month authorisation enables us and our partners to deliver better humanitarian outcomes in the months ahead. It is as simple as that," Griffiths said.

The current six-month authorisation is due to expire on 10 July. Syrian regime ally Russia has long questioned the need for the operation, arguing that more humanitarian assistance should be delivered to the area from within Syria.

Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia again argued on Thursday that the UN aid operation violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.

"They're trying to convince us that the cross-border mechanism should be extended for 12 months in order to better plan operations," Nebenzia said.

"Let us ask the question, what means will the UN be using to plan these operations?"

Griffiths told the council that the $5.4 billion UN aid appeal for Syria for 2023 is the largest in the world, but it was less than 12 percent funded.

"It has never been quite so ill-funded in the history of this conflict," he said, appealing for countries to pay up on pledges of $5 billion made this month to support people in Syria and neighbouring states hosting Syrian refugees in 2023.

Britain's UN ambassador Barbara Woodward said London had pledged $190 million and called on Moscow to announce its contribution "following the recent announcement that Russia spends $2 billion a year on the Wagner Group" – the mercenary force behind an abortive armed mutiny in Russia last weekend.

International Rescue Committee President and CEO David Miliband addressed the issue of cross-border aid to Syria in a press release published on 15 June about an annual conference on supporting the Syrian people.

He said: "While overall pledges to Syria were down this year, it is important to note the commitments by the German and US governments in particular. This is the US's largest humanitarian funding announcement to the Syria response to date.

"Today's diplomatic momentum needs to carry through to the entire UN Security Council as they vote on cross-border aid next month, ensuring the reauthorisation of life-saving cross-border aid routes for 12 months at minimum.

"Humanitarian realities on the ground must drive Security Council action, not politics, particularly after the devastating earthquake earlier this year which plunged millions of Syrians into even deeper crisis.

"Now is the time for more aid and the means to deliver it, not less, allowing life-saving aid to flow now and recovery efforts to scale up, helping Syrians to rebuild their lives after more than a decade of conflict."

The Security Council initially authorised aid deliveries in 2014 into opposition-held areas of Syria from Iraq, Jordan and two points in Turkey. But Russia and China have whittled that down to just one Turkish border point.

A crackdown by Syrian regime President Bashar Al-Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 led to civil war, with Moscow backing Assad and Washington supporting the opposition. Millions of people have fled Syria and millions are internally displaced.

The UN General Assembly on Thursday voted to create – under UN auspices – an Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria "to clarify the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons… and to provide adequate support to victims, survivors and the families of those missing."

The measure was adopted with 83 votes in favour, 11 against and 62 abstentions.

(Reuters)