New York, NY, June 25, 2021 — David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, said, “We welcome efforts to ensure cross-border aid continues to reach millions of Syrians caught in conflict in northwest Syria, and the important move to reauthorize UN-led cross-border assistance to the northeast. This is a critical and long overdue step by Council Members to act on the dire need for scaled up humanitarian assistance to Syrians in the northeast where needs have increased nearly 40 percent since the Council’s decision to end cross-border access to the area last year.
“However, we are concerned that this text fails to include the reauthorization of a critical crossing, Bab al Salam, to the northwest. This decision leaves just one access point for life-saving UN assistance, including COVID-19 vaccines, to reach millions in northwest Syria. Violence and insecurity have previously forced Bab al Hawa, the last remaining crossing to the northwest, to close, jeopardizing the timely delivery of aid to millions of Syrians. The UNSC should maximize the number of crossing points, and access to aid, as a matter of urgency.
“The absence of crossing points has been shown to impact flows of and access to aid. Bab al Salam is a direct gateway to northern Aleppo, home to 800,000 IDPs and one of the highest concentrations of displaced people in Syria. Weeks before it closed, one million health treatments were being delivered through the crossing a month. Its closure in the midst of a pandemic ended a reliable source for medical supplies, vaccines, and health treatments, and unnecessarily delayed the delivery of life-saving supplies. Recent IRC data finds needs are rising in the northwest - where 81% of people are in need of aid: Basic needs like access to food and water are going unmet and families are resorting to measures like child marriage, and child labor to make ends meet. One crossing alone has proved insufficient to meet the scale of needs in the North West.
“After so many years of failure for the Syrian people, Council Members must unite behind the humanitarian imperative to ensure Syrians in need, wherever they are, can be reached in a principled manner by the most direct routes. Last year, 101 UN Member States voted for the Council to reauthorize Bab al Salam and Yarubiyah after only one crossing was renewed in July. Since then, needs across Syria have increased 20 percent. The evidence is clear and there should be no question, access to aid is a right in law. The Security Council should authorize access through Bab al Hawa and Bab al Salam in the northwest, and through Al Yarubiyah in the northeast before the July 10 deadline. Anything less amounts to abandoning Syrians who need and deserve support.”