{"id":13603,"date":"2022-06-17T05:54:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T12:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=13603"},"modified":"2022-06-17T06:04:06","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T13:04:06","slug":"closing-syria-aid-route-would-be-catastrophe-un-warned-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=13603","title":{"rendered":"“Closing Syria aid route would be \u2018catastrophe\u2019, UN warned”, The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patrick Wintour, diplomatic editor, London, 17 Jun 2022<\/p>\n

Russia expected to use security council veto to block resolution to keep open Bab al-Hawa border crossing into Idlib from Turkey<\/em><\/p>\n\"At<\/picture>A humanitarian aid convoy waits to be inspected by customs officials at the Bab al-Hawa crossing from Turkey into Syria. <\/span>Photograph: Omar Haj Kadour\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n

The last remaining UN humanitarian aid route into Syria<\/a> looks set to be shut down in a vote at the body\u2019s security council next month, another casualty of the collapse in relations between the west and Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On 10 July the council is due to vote on whether to keep open the Bab al-Hawa crossing from Turkey<\/a>, which helps service rebel-held Idlib.<\/p>\n

The number of permitted cross-border aid routes into Syria<\/a> was reduced from four to one in 2020, as Damascus and Moscow \u2013 the country\u2019s chief sponsor at the UN \u2013 try to assert Syria\u2019s sovereign right to control its borders and administer the flow of overseas aid.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the heads of all the major UN agencies \u2013 including Martin Griffiths, the head of the UN humanitarian agency OCHA \u2013 issued a rare joint appeal to keep the border crossing open.<\/p>\n

\u201cFailure to renew the resolution will have dire humanitarian consequences. It will immediately disrupt the UN\u2019s lifesaving aid operation, plunging people in northwest Syria into deeper misery and threatening their access to the food, medical care, clean water, shelter, and protection from gender-based violence currently offered by UN-backed operations,\u201d they said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thirty-two NGO leaders have also called<\/a> for the crossing to be maintained for another 12 months, but the chances of success are slim. The crossing requires a UN resolution and a Russian commitment not to use its veto to block the measure.<\/p>\n

In a sign of the importance of the issue, foreign ministers from Ireland and Norway have visited the crossing<\/a>, as has the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.<\/p>\n

The NGOs claim that, in 2021, the Bab al-Hawa route allowed humanitarian aid to reach more than 2.4 million people a month in the north-west of the country. This included food for 1.8 million people, nutrition assistance to 85,000, education for 78,000 children, and access to life-saving dignity kits for 250,000 women and girls.<\/p>\n