SC/10752
Security Council
6826th Meeting (PM)
Deputy Secretary-General, High Commissioner for Refugees Deliver Briefings
Seeking to ease the humanitarian crisis affecting more than 2.5 million Syrians, including more than 200,000 refugees who had fled the violence to neighbouring countries, Security Council members insisted today that the body’s inability to have a decisive impact in ending the bloodshed in the beleaguered nation did not mean that progress could not be made on the humanitarian track.
As violence between the Syrian army and armed rebels whipped through the country, most recently in the eastern suburbs of Damascus, the high-level meeting convened by Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius of France, which holds the Council presidency for August, shifted focus from the political and security aspects of the conflict to the plight of Syrians inside and outside the country.
Providing the Council with the latest figures, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson reported that more than 2.5 million people inside Syria were in grave need of assistance and protection. Yet as of yesterday, the $180 million Humanitarian Response Plan for that country had only been half funded and some critical sectors had received almost no funds at all, he said, pressing donors to “urgently rise to this humanitarian imperative”, as hundreds of thousands of lives were at stake.
There were also dangerous repercussions for Syria’s neighbours, with more than 220,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, he warned. That weighed heavily on host-country authorities and risked serious destabilization. He also viewed with alarm the political, social and economic consequences of those large refugee movements, emphasizing that the affected Governments urgently needed support, and that the spillover of conflict and violence across borders must be prevented.
Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said the “refugee exodus” was having a significant impact on the host countries, already affected by the national security implications of the crisis. But the most tragic consequences were felt inside Syria, he said, calling for unrestricted humanitarian access and support for the victims and host countries. He stressed, however, that there was no humanitarian solution to the crisis, saying that only a political solution leading to peace could end the humanitarian emergency.
Speaking in his national capacity, Minister Fabius said the situation in Syria was increasingly intolerable, especially since President Bashar al-Assad wanted to retain power through barbaric repression and savage fighting. He was indiscriminately using heavy weapons, helicopter gunships and fighter jets against his own people, and even threatening to use his stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons.
The Minister said he could not understand why the Syrian regime had been allowed to murder its people, or why the Council had so far been unable to ensure either their security or unity. In the interim was a humanitarian situation, and the divisions in the Council should not prevent its relief, he said, urging support for the host countries and humanitarian workers, while also calling attention to the situations in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.
Ahmet Davutoğlu, Foreign Minister of Turkey, said his country was opening its doors daily to every Syrian who “runs for safety”. However, with their number now topping 80,000 and another 10,000 waiting on Turkey’s border, the scale of the tragedy was “growing so out of proportion that Turkey finds it increasingly difficult to cope with ensuing challenges all by itself”.
He said he understood that today’s meeting would not result in a presidential or press statement, let alone a robust resolution, but asked: “How long are we going to sit and watch while an entire generation is being wiped out by random bombardment and deliberate mass targeting?” He warned the Council: “If we do not act against such a crime against humanity happening in front of our eyes, we become accomplice to the crime.”
Susan Rice ( United States), emphasizing that no amount of humanitarian assistance would end the bloodshed and suffering, said the question was not whether the Assad regime would fall, but when. “We will not rest until the Syrian people are free to realize their aspirations to govern themselves and live without fear,” she declared, reiterating the United States Government’s demand that Syria refrain from using or transferring any chemical or biological weapons, and ensure the safety and security of all such weapons and stockpiles. One day soon, she said, “Assad will lose his bloody grip on the Syrian people”, and then the Council would have to step up to help them heal the wounds of war and rebuild their battered country. When that day came, the Syrian people and the world would remember who had been on the wrong side of history and who had been on the Syrian people’s side.
Li Baodong ( China) said it was especially important to guard against interference in the internal affairs of a country or proceed with military action “under the pretext of humanitarianism”. Efforts to ease the humanitarian situation must be guided by the principles of neutrality, impartiality and respect for Syria’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. Humanitarian relief efforts should never be militarized, and any “connivance” in that direction would lead to more bloodshed and casualties and greater humanitarian catastrophe, he said, calling for a Syrian-led transition process.
Bashar Ja’afari ( Syria) suggested that today’s meeting to discuss humanitarian concerns was a pretext for discussing the political situation in his country. Citing claims by certain Arab parties and others outside the region that there was no alternative to arming the opposition, creating safe corridors and buffer zones, and having the Syrian President step down, he said it was high time to learn the lesson of disasters brought about by foreign interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
Also speaking today were Jordan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lebanon’s Minister for Social Affairs, Iraq’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Morocco’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Colombia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Togo’s Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Representatives of Azerbaijan, Russian Federation, South Africa, Germany, India, Guatemala, Pakistan and Portugal also spoke.
Speaking in response to the Syrian representative were his counterparts from France and Turkey, as well as the Ministers from Lebanon and Morocco.
The meeting began at 3:07 p.m. and ended at 7:03 p.m.