Guterres appeals to the Security Council to extend the aid mechanism to Syria

ARK News... United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned of the deteriorating dire humanitarian situation for millions of people in Syria, recommending the Security Council to extend the cross-border aid mechanism to Syria for a year through the "Bab al-Hawa" crossing on the Turkish border.

This came in the session of the UN Security Council currently being held at the United Nations Permanent Headquarters in New York, on Monday the 20th. 06. 2022, on the humanitarian situation in Syria.

"The humanitarian situation remains dire for millions of children, women, and men across Syria, and needs are at their highest since the start of the war more than 11 years ago," Guterres said in his speech during the session.

"The numbers are stark, 14.6 million people need humanitarian assistance, 12 million people are food insecure, and they are not sure where their next meal will come from," he added.

He continued, "90 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, the infrastructure is dilapidated and destroyed due to the conflict, economic activity has halved, and people are living on the edge of the abyss, and they are no longer able to adapt."

"Our current humanitarian appeal requires $4.4 billion to help people inside Syria and another $5.6 billion to support refugees in the region," the Secretary-General explained.

He added, "More is needed. The generous pledges pledged at the Sixth Donor Conference in Brussels (held on May 10, 2022) must be paid, and I appeal to donors to follow up and increase their support."

Guterres warned of the continuing "increasing needs in northwest Syria, where 2.8 million people live in camps or informal settlements."

He said: "More than 90 percent of the people in the northwest need assistance, so it is imperative to maintain the expansion of aid provided to them through cross-line operations (i.e. from inside Syria) and cross-border operations (i.e. through the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Turkish border)".

He added, "Since the council took a unified position last year by adopting Resolution 2585 last year... hundreds of trucks now cross from Turkey every month... and since the approval of the cross-border aid delivery mechanism in 2014, more than 50,000 trucks have crossed the Turkish border into Syria." to provide assistance to those in need.

"I strongly appeal to members of Council to maintain consensus on allowing the cross-border aid mechanism to continue, by renewing Resolution 2585 for an additional 12 months," he continued.

Resolution 2254 issued on December 18, 2015, calls on all parties to stop launching attacks against civilian targets and asks the United Nations to bring the two parties together to enter into formal negotiations and hold elections under the supervision of the United Nations, with the aim of achieving a political transition.

The mandate of the Security Council for the aid mechanism through "Bab al-Hawa" expires on July 10, 2022.

The Council’s decisions require the approval of at least 9 of its members, provided that none of the five permanent members, namely Russia, China, the United States, France, and Britain, object to it.

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