Is it too much to ask that Syrians receive the aid they need?
The New HumanitarianJul 05, 2023
On Tuesday, two separate proposals of a six- and nine-month renewal of a UN humanitarian operation in Turkey to transport aid to over 4M people in rebel-controlled northwest Syria failed to gain approval at the UN Security Council.
The proposal for a nine-month extension of the operation was vetoed by Russia alone in the 15-state Security Council — with China abstaining from the vote. Only China joined Russia in approving the six-month counter-proposal, meaning there was to be no renewal of the program — which officially expired on Monday — that provides for over 80% of the needs of those living in rebel-controlled areas of Syria.
Despite providing a crucial lifeline to over 4M people, cross-border aid has consistently faced attempts from Russia to undermine the UN's mechanism. Moscow and the al-Assad regime continue to play with the lives of Syrians in an attempt to gain leverage. Both the Russian and the Syrian governments must stop politicizing international efforts to give aid to the region and cease manipulating a humanitarian crisis for their own benefit.
Russia's criticism of the UN's controversial cross-border aid mechanism highlights the complexity of the Syrian crisis and merely calls for greater transparency and fairness in a program that benefits the West's political goals while ignoring the needs of over 14M Syrians who live in government-controlled territory. Russia's demands merely insist that UN efforts respect Syria's sovereignty, comply with international norms, and attempt to provide aid to all Syrians.
Though the US and other Western countries blame Russia for the lack of aid delivery to northwest Syria, the reality is that Russia's approval is not actually needed to deliver aid independently. Russia and the Syrian regime are the main causes of Syrians' suffering, but that doesn't mean that the West is without blame as well. Turkey controls the border between it and the rebel-held areas of northwest Syria, meaning that humanitarian aid could be transferred to the millions in need without Russia's approval.
There is a 1% chance that Russia will be removed from the UN Security Council by 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.