New York, NY, December 18, 2019 — The International Rescue Committee (IRC) calls on the UN Security Council to adopt a one-year renewal of Resolution 2449, which authorizes the UN and partners to deliver aid cross-border into Syria. We urge the Council, as in years past, to adopt the resolution by consensus and to maintain all four original border crossing points. In 2014, when this resolution was first adopted, the Security Council expressed “grave alarm” that the number of people in need of assistance had risen to more than 10 million. At the end of 2019, that number stands at more than 11 million - almost four million of whom are only able to receive aid thanks to the cross-border response The situation inside Syria remains a humanitarian catastrophe. Now is not the time to scale back on humanitarian access.
International Rescue Committee President and CEO David Miliband said, “The IRC and numerous other humanitarian actors depend on this resolution: weakening it would seriously undermine the scale and reach of the humanitarian response in Syria and would threaten the lives of millions of vulnerable Syrians. There is no viable alternative; for our life-saving work to continue, it is critical that the UN Security Council renews this resolution and maintains original border crossing points. This resolution represents the only UN Security Council action designed explicitly to relieve the suffering of Syrians. We urge the Council not to lose sight of the cost of these eight years of war and to continue extending this essential lifeline to the millions of Syrians who rely on it to survive."