After a Russian veto, the UN Security Council on Tuesday (July 11th) failed to extend the cross-border humanitarian aid mechanism to Syria, cutting off a vital passageway for millions of people in rebel areas of the country. .

The fifteen members of the Council had been trying for days to find a compromise to extend this mechanism which allows food, water or medicine to people in northwestern Syria.

Faced with even greater needs since the February earthquakes, the UN, humanitarian workers and a majority of Council members were calling for an extension of at least one year to allow, in particular, better organization of aid.

Russian veto

The initial text, drafted by Switzerland and Brazil, responsible for this file, thus proposed this extension of twelve months. Faced with opposition from Russia, which insisted on just six months as was the case now, a nine-month compromise was put to the vote on Tuesday. But Russia vetoed this resolution which received thirteen votes in favor and one abstention (China).

The Council also rejected Tuesday by two votes for, three against and ten abstentions, a competing text presented by Russia which proposed a six-month extension, but which denounced the Western sanctions imposed on Syria.

“It’s a sad moment for this Council, except for one country”, launched the American ambassador after the Russian veto, denouncing an “act of absolute cruelty”.

“This schedule would have made it possible to get through the harsh winter months,” said Swiss Ambassador Pascale Baeriswyl, saying she was “very disappointed”. “We will not let this veto put an end to our efforts to find a solution,” she said, adding that she and her Brazilian counterpart would “get back to work immediately”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “disappointed” by the setback and called on “all members of the Security Council to redouble their efforts to support the continued distribution of cross-border aid,” his secretary said. spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, stating that the UN had prepositioned aid inside the country in the event of a shutdown.

Interests of the Syrian people

The Russian ambassador, Vassili Nebenzia, accused the West of “provocation to push Russia to use its veto”, believing that the mechanism “does not take into account the interests of the Syrian people at all”.

“Humanitarian aid should be based on needs, not politics,” lambasted Floriane Borel of Human Rights Watch, decrying Russia’s “cynical veto.” The UN “should immediately explore [other] means (…) to ensure that the Syrians receive enough food, medicine and [other] aid that they desperately need without having to beg Russia or the Syrian president for access,” she added.

The mechanism created in 2014 allows the UN to deliver humanitarian aid to the populations of the rebel areas of northwestern Syria, without authorization from the Syrian government, which regularly denounces a violation of its sovereignty.

Initially, it provided for four crossing points, but after years of pressure, in particular from Moscow, an ally of the Syrian regime, only the Bab Al-Hawa post had remained operational, and its authorization had been reduced to six months renewable, complicating the planning of humanitarian aid.

Two other operational crossing points

Despite the expiration of the UN mechanism, at least temporarily, two other crossing points are operational, although they are largely less used than Bab Al-Hawa. The Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, had indeed directly authorized their opening after the earthquakes of February, but this authorization expires in mid-August.

“I have great hope that they will continue to be renewed, I see no reason why not,” commented UN chief for humanitarian affairs Martin Griffiths, who had met with the president last week. Assad in Damascus at the end of June.

Since the February 6 earthquakes, more than 3,700 UN aid trucks have passed through the three crossings, according to the UN. But the vast majority passed through Bab Al-Hawa, including 79 on Monday.

UN says four million people in northwestern Syria, mostly women and children, need humanitarian assistance to survive after years of conflict, economic shocks, disease outbreaks and poverty growing aggravated by devastating earthquakes. And the mechanism that expired on Monday was providing aid to 2.7 million people every month.