A study prepared by an independent Syrian studies center accused the United Nations of involvement in the humanitarian tragedy affecting various areas across Syria and that has already resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians of hunger and lack of medical supplies. The study said that the United Nations bears primary responsibility for forcing Syrian civilians to leave their areas or agree to humiliating so-called reconciliation deals with the Assad regime.
The study, which was published on the website of the Al-Jisr TV channel on Thursday, said that the failure to enforce the humanitarian provisions of UN resolutions led to medical aid reaching barely 3.5 percent of those in need and to food aid reaching as few as 0.07 percent in 2015.
The study emphasized that international resolutions demanding the delivery of food and medical aid to those in need in the besieged areas did not require authorization or approval from the Assad regime. These resolutions indicated that the Assad regime needed only to be notified of the aid deliveries. They also demanded that the UN aid convoys should be protected as they passed through conflict lines and border crossings.
“The UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has shifted from notifying the Assad regime to requesting permission from it,” the study added. “This renders the UN a partner in the starvation and siege of Syrian civilians as well as deaths resulting from lack of food and medical supplies which are being either blocked from entering the besieged areas or removed from the aid convoys that were given a permission to go ahead.”
The study wondered as to why the United Nations had walked out on the resolutions it passed on Syria especially after the Assad regime accused it of smuggling weapons in the aid convoys.
The Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta was the scene of the largest mass forced displacement and demographic change in Syria by the Assad regime and Russia. The crime took place despite the adoption of UNSC resolution 2401 demanding a ceasefire in Syria, especially in eastern Ghouta and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to those in need.
The Syrian Coalition earlier stressed that the continued international inaction served as a green light for the Assad regime to carry out genocide in eastern Ghouta and other areas across Syria.
The Assad regime has used siege and starvation against the liberated areas for several years and committed large-scale war crimes against civilians. The Coalition demanded the referral of Syria to the International Criminal Court to hold all war criminals accountable. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)