The UN Security Council resolution which authorizes humanitarian aid for north-west Syria via Turkey will expire in a few days: should it not be renewed there will be "catastrophic" consequences for 4.1 million persons, is the warning issued by several humanitarian agencies to the UN in a joint press release.
The resolution of the UN Security Council that allows the delivery of humanitarian aid to north-east Syria through the Turkish border will expire in a few days, on January 10.
If the resolution, which foresees the use of this border path, will not be renewed "the consequences will be catastrophic for 4.1 million people in non-government controlled areas. The majority of them are women and children that need aid to survive in the peek of winter and in the middle of a cholera epidemic."
This is what high level United Nations officials declared. They jointly signed a request for the Security Council because "Humanitarian assistance and protection services must always be allowed to reach those who need it through the safest and most direct and efficient route."
UN agencies launch the warning
Among them is Martin Griffiths, emergency aid coordinator and under secretary general of humanitarian affairs; Antonio Vitorino, Director General of the International Organization for Migration; Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees for the United Nations; Catherine Russell, Executive Director for the United Nations Fund for Infancy; David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Program and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization.
"Without UN cross-border operations, millions of people, especially those displaced for years and multiple times, will not have access to food and shelter; to help in coping with harsh winter conditions; to the surveillance, treatment and testing capacities needed to contain cholera; to safe water; and to protection from gender-based violence," said the statement.
In 2022, 2.7 million people benefited from aid per month
In 2022, the UN delivered aid through the Turkish border to Syria, reaching on average 2.7 million people each month.
"We were also able to bolster assistance within Syria from Government-controlled areas across frontlines into the country's northwest, delivering food, health, education and other supplies for thousands of people in need," commented the UN officials.
"The millions of people who depend on the cross-border lifeline for survival need this resolution to be renewed without delay," they concluded.