Call for the immediate protection of civilians and medical personnel, facilities and transport in Syria
All parties to the conflict in Syria must comply with the rules of international humanitarian law to protect civilians against the violence of conflict at all times. It is our moral duty to remind them of their obligation to do so and to protect the provision of medical and humanitarian assistance in Syria. Violence against civilians in Syria must stop now. Expansion of current humanitarian efforts is urgently required, independent of political efforts to resolve the conflict. We call upon all parties to the conflict to:
All parties to the conflict in Syria must comply with the rules of international humanitarian law to protect civilians against the violence of conflict at all times. It is our moral duty to remind them of their obligation to do so and to protect the provision of medical and humanitarian assistance in Syria. Violence against civilians in Syria must stop now. Expansion of current humanitarian efforts is urgently required, independent of political efforts to resolve the conflict. We call upon all parties to the conflict to:
• immediately uphold their obligation to protect civilians as well as medical personnel, facilities and transport;
• allow and facilitate immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access to the whole of the territory;
• guarantee without delay the safety and security of humanitarian personnel in the exercise of their duties
Imagine that the city you live in, the place where you work and where your children go to school are all being destroyed. Not quickly from one day to another, but in a slow, gradual and unpredictable manner. Imagine the uncertainty and stress you would feel at the thought of tomorrow. Will the next house destroyed be my neighbour’s? Will it be mine? This is the tragic and unbearable reality for people living in Syria.
We want people around the world to understand that the on-going conflict in Syria has real and tangible consequences for ordinary people. So even though much of the discussion and coverage of the crisis tends to focus on the political and military situation, we must not lose sight of the day-to-day impact on people living in Syria.
The tragic conflict in Syria has continued for more than two years. Thousands of civilians have been killed every month and those who survive – whether in Syria or in its neighboring countries – suffer unprecedented humanitarian hardship.
We are shocked by the growing tragic consequences of the conflict. Fighting and violence have reached intolerable levels, leading to unbearable suffering, loss of human life, refugees-flows, massive displacement of people and material destruction. Despite the efforts to increase protection for all affected civilians in Syria and in neighbouring countries, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate dramatically and many civilians remain cut off from humanitarian assistance. We are particularly concerned about the most vulnerable, especially children and women.
The numbers speak for themselves. More than 100.000 people are estimated to have been killed during the war and 465.000 injured. More than 2 million refugees including 1 million of children have already left Syria, while 4.3 million including 2 millions of children have been forced from their homes, but remain within the Syrian borders. These numbers continue to increase daily.
We are appalled by the use of chemical weapons in Syria, which have taken so many civilian lives, including numerous women and children. We condemn in the strongest terms the use of such weapons of mass destruction. The use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances is a grave violation of international law and an outrageous war crime. There should be no impunity for such acts and any perpetrators must be brought to justice.
All parties to the conflict have the responsibility to comply with the rules of international humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction, proportionality and humanity to protect civilians against the violence of conflict at all times. We have a moral obligation to remind and influence all parties to respect their obligations and to protect the provision of medical and humanitarian assistance in Syria.
In particular, we are greatly concerned that medical infrastructure has been severely damaged or destroyed. According to the UN, 60% of the public hospitals have been affected, many badly damaged and almost 40% completely unusable. Almost 80% of ambulances in the country have been damaged and, alarmingly, some are being misused for combat purposes. Convoys are regularly checked and medical supplies are often being seized. Patients, medical personnel, facilities and vehicles are being deliberately targeted by those involved in the hostilities. Medical facilities, including hospitals, are being exploited for combat purposes, and some are even being used as torture and detention centres.
As a result of the damage to health facilities, lack of qualified health personnel and insecurity, many people can not consistently access medical care. This deprives them of basic medical services placing in particular women and children at significant risk, as well as those who suffer from chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. The disruption of vaccination programmes, damage to water and sanitation services, and destruction of homes and shelters also places people at substantial risk of infectious diseases. Outbreak of measles and diarrhea have already been documented.
In some instances, life-saving surgical supplies have been removed from aid convoys. We are also seeing too many civilians dying of injuries which they could have survived, if only timely medical assistance was available. At the same time, humanitarian organizations continue to face dire conditions as they attempt to access victims.
Violence against civilians in Syria must stop now. Expansion of current humanitarian efforts is urgently required, independent of political efforts to resolve the conflict.
We express our gratitude to the humanitarian workers from various UN, international and domestic organisations, who put their lives at risk on the ground every day to deliver humanitarian supplies to all the civilians under extraordinary difficult circumstances. We wish to praise the courage and solidarity of ordinary men and women in their efforts to relieve the suffering of their families and neighbours in such a dire and tragic situation.
We call upon all parties to the conflict to immediately uphold their obligation to protect civilians as well as medical personnel, facilities and transport. They must allow and facilitate immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access to the whole of the territory, including delivery of medical care and humanitarian assistance on a non-discriminatory basis. We urge all parties to guarantee the safety and security of humanitarian personnel in the exercise of their duties.
List of Ministers of Foreign Affairs who sign the joint article
Evangelos Venizelos, Deputy Prime-Minister and Foreign Minister, Greece
Michael Spindelegger, Vice-Chancellor & Federal Minister for European and International Affairs, Austria
Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and European Affairs, Belgium
Kristian Vigenin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Bulgaria
Charles Koffi Diby, Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Côte d'Ivoire
Vesna Pusić, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Republic of Croatia
Ioannis Kasoulides, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Cyprus
Jan Kohout, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic
Christian Friis Bach, Minister for Development Cooperation, Denmark
Nabil Fahmy, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arab Republic of Egypt
Urmaes Paet, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Estonia
Kristalina Georgieva, International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis response Commissioner,
European Commission
Heidi Hautala, Minister for International Development, Finland
Janos Martonyi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hungary
Dr. Marty M. Natalegawa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia
Eamon Gilmore T.D., Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister for Foreign Affairs
and Trade, Ireland
Edgars Rinkēvičs, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Latvia
Jean Asselborn, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Lilianne Ploumen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, The Netherlands
Radoslaw Sikorski, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Poland
Miroslav Lajčák, Deputy-Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Slovakia
Karl Erjavec, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Slovenia
D. José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Spain
Didier Burkhalter, Federal Counsellor in charge of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland
Surapong Tovichakchaikul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand
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Bereits mehr als 1,3 Millionen syrische Flüchtlinge in Libanon...
ReplyDeleteDer Flüchtlingsstrom aus Syrien lässt nicht nach: Im benachbarten Libanon sind nach Angaben des libanesischen Außenministers Mansour Adnan bereits mehr als 1,3 Millionen Syrer gestrandet.
Der Flüchtlingszustrom bereite dem Libanon große Probleme, sagte der Minister nach Angaben des Nachrichtenportals „Al-Kuds al-Arabi. Er bat die Weltgemeinschaft um Hilfe. Dass der Libanon trotz seiner beschränkten Kapazitäten weitere Flüchtlinge aufnehme, bedeute nicht, dass das Land das Problem im Alleingang lösen müsse.
Seit Beginn des Bürgerkriegs in Syrien vor rund zweieinhalb Jahren sind laut UN-Angaben bereits bis zu 100.000 Menschen, darunter 7.000 Kinder, getötet worden. Zwei Millionen Syrer mussten nach Angaben des UN-Flüchtlingswerks (UNHCR) ihr Heimatland verlassen. Hinzu kommen mehr als 4,2 Binnenvertriebene. Fast 520.000 Flüchtlinge halten sich in Jordanien und weitere 463.000 in der Türkei auf.
Die syrische Opposition, die von westlichen Staaten unterstützt wird, will Präsident Baschar al-Assad stürzen. Nach Darstellung der syrischen Regierung kämpft die Armee gegen aus dem Ausland unterstützte Terroristen.
http://de.rian.ru/politics/20130923/266934713.html
23/9/13
Urgent action needed to reach and protect children trapped by Syria conflict – UNICEF...
ReplyDelete23 September 2013 – As the plight of civilians trapped by the Syria conflict grows more desperate, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is calling for greater efforts to ensure humanitarian access that will safeguard the lives of thousands of children.
The agency warned that children continue to be cut off from urgently-needed assistance, including vaccinations, safe drinking water, shelter, education and psychological support.
“As fighting continues, some areas have been under siege for months on end, leaving families struggling to survive,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “Syria’s children have suffered too much, for too long, and will continue to bear the consequences of this crisis for many years to come.
“We must be able to reach these children, urgently and without restrictions – and the various parties to the conflict can make that happen by immediately allowing humanitarian workers to reach them with life-saving assistance,” he said.
Over two years into the conflict, which has claimed more than 100,000 lives and forcibly displaced almost one-third of the country’s population, “the needs remain immense,” said Mr. Lake.
“To get to those we have still not reached, humanitarian workers have to be able to move freely and safely in all parts of the country and essential services must be protected.”
One practical example of how unimpeded access could save lives, he noted, is the forthcoming Child Health Day vaccination campaign that aims to protect children inside Syria from vaccine-preventable diseases, with a special focus on the 700,000 children that have not been reached through the most recent immunization campaigns.
UNICEF added that vital services such as health and education also require special protection, stressing that schools and health facilities should not be targeted in fighting, but rather recognized as ‘zones of peace’ where women and children can seek assistance and support.
The agency and its partners have faced severe difficulties for most of this year in reaching hundreds of thousands of children in Aleppo, Rural Damascus, major parts of Homs, Deir ez Zour and Rural Dara'a. Medical supplies, including vaccines, have been held up at checkpoints, and vital work on repairing water pipelines has been delayed.
Unimpeded humanitarian access, stressed UNICEF, requires clear commitments on behalf of the Syrian Government and opposition groups for, among other things, humanitarian pauses in the conflict to permit aid workers safe access and freedom of movement to deliver services and supplies to those in need.
Despite the challenges, UNICEF and its partners have been able to provide 10 million people inside the strife-torn nation with access to safe drinking water this year. They have also immunized 2 million children against measles over the last two years, and are currently delivering school supplies to enable 1 million Syrian children to resume learning in the country.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=45933&Cr=syria&Cr1=#.UkCU3X-IzJc
23/9/13
UN: Syrian cease-fire necessary for chemical weapons deal...
ReplyDeleteUnited Nations officials says cessation in hostilities can be opportunity for increased humanitarian aid.
Ertharin Cousin told The Associated Press in an interview Monday that an agreement under discussion now envisions a cessation of hostilities so chemical experts can travel across the country, including to many conflict areas where WFP and other humanitarian workers have been unable to bring in desperately needed aid.
“So this is an opportunity for us to hopefully overcome the hurdle that today we’ve been unable to achieve,” she said.
The United States and Russia brokered an agreement for Syria to give up its chemical weapons but UN diplomats say they are at odds on details of a UN Security Council resolution spelling out how it should be done and the possible consequences if Syria doesn’t comply.
Cousin urged the international community to demand that the Security Council make any cease-fire a broad one.
“When you talk about a cessation of hostilities to allow access for the chemical (weapons) workers, that cessation in hostilities should also allow access for humanitarian workers,” she said.
WFP is currently feeding 3 million people inside Syria and 1.2 million in neighboring countries. Cousin said the goal is to step up supplies so that 4 million internally displaced people and 1.5 million refugees are getting food by the end of October.....http://www.timesofisrael.com/un-syrian-cease-fire-necessary-for-chemical-weapons-deal/
24/9/13