Resolution Belgium and Germany on the extension of the delivery of humanitarian aid SAR via two border crossing on the border with Turkey did not consider the appeal of the UN Secretary General to remove unilateral sanctions preventing Damascus to fight the pandemic, said the permanent representative of China to the UN Zhang Jun.
Earlier, Russia and China vetoed in the UN security Council to a draft resolution of Belgium and Germany, extending by one year the operation of two border crossings ("Bab-El-Hawa" and "Bab-es-Salam") on the border of Syria and Turkey to deliver cross-border humanitarian aid in Syria. For the resolution voted by all the other 13 members of the UN security Council. The mandate of the action the PPC will expire on 10 July.
US Ambassador to the UN, Kelly Kraft has accused Russia and China of cynicism, the desire to "strangle humanitarian aid to Syria" and the support of Bashar al-Assad.
In turn, Zhang Jun stressed that unilateral coercive measures have aggravated the economic and humanitarian crisis in Syria.
According to him, up until the unilateral coercive measures will not be lifted, there is no significant improvement in the humanitarian situation in Syria.
"One country, claiming that she was concerned about the suffering of the Syrian civilian population, imposed additional unilateral coercive measures against Syria, ruthlessly strangling the livelihood of the Syrian people. China once again urges the Security Council to address this critical issue and urges the relevant countries to immediately lift the unilateral coercive measures imposed on Syria," said the Chinese Ambassador.
He also stated that unilateral coercive measures have severely undermined the ability of Syria to fight the pandemic COVID-19. "the Secretary-General antónio Guterres and special envoy to the RAA, Geir Pedersen has repeatedly called on the countries concerned to revoke unilateral coercive measures. With this purpose, China has proposed amendments to the draft resolution," said Zhang Jun.
"it is disappointing that the draft resolution submitted by the co-authors completely ignores the amendment of China and does not contain a single word about the unilateral coercive measures. China forced to vote against such a biased and unbalanced the draft resolution", – said in a statement, China’s permanent representative to the UN.
In addition, he noted that the mechanism of cross-border delivery of humanitarian aid was urgent and temporary measure.
"the Government of Syria bears primary responsibility for improving the humanitarian situation in the country. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria must be respected," he added.
Mode simplified the delivery of humanitarian and medical aid to Syria from neighbouring States (primarily across the border with Turkey) via the front line and pogranichijady valid from July 2014. Such a mechanism has been renewed annually. Under this mechanism, the humanitarian agencies of the UN and its partners had the right to use the routes through the confrontation lines and four border crossing points: "Bab-es-Salam", "Bab-El-Hawa" (both on the border of Syria and Turkey), "El Arabia" (border of Syria and Iraq) and "al-Ramtha" (border of Syria and Jordan).
As the Syrian army began to take control of more territories, Damascus and Moscow began to advocate a phasing out of the operation of border crossings. As argued by the Russian and Syrian parties, and now humanitarian aid must be delivered to the areas through the territory of Syria, and not from the territory of neighboring States.
In January, the UN security Council extended the mandate of only two checkpoints on the border with Turkey. "El Arabia" and "al-Ramtha" has ceased to function in the framework of cross-border delivery of humanitarian aid.
On Tuesday, after blocking the resolution renewing for a year PPC "Bab-El-Hawa" and "Bab-es-Salam," Russia has announced that it will introduce its draft resolution. It involves the extension of the six months of operation only one border crossing – "Bab-El-Hawa".
As pointed out by Russia’s envoy to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, the mechanism of cross-border delivery of humanitarian assistance "was conceived as a temporary emergency measure that the Security Council has endorsed, to provide humanitarian support to the conflict-ridden country". Now, according to Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, "the time has come to gradually phase out this mechanism in order to replace it with compostable to be carried out in accordance with the principles outlined in the UN General Assembly resolution 46/182".
