Vice President of the National Coalition, Dima Moussa, gave a briefing Friday, 7 February, to the Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations in New York on the latest developments in Syria.
In the meeting, Moussa briefed representatives of the 27 European Union states about the humanitarian situation in Syria, particularly in Idlib amid the ongoing intense military escalation by the Syrian regime, which has resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties and hundreds of thousands of IDPs, many of whom have been previously displaced at least once and from all over Syria. This, Moussa noted, requires collective work to address the humanitarian crisis with immediate measures, by providing humanitarian assistance to meet basic and urgent needs, particularly those relating to shelter and health services. Though, Moussa pointed out the necessity of stopping the military escalation to halt displacement of civilians, as the area in which millions of Syrians are living continues to shrink, which is not only problematic on the humanitarian level, but also undermines efforts to reach a political solution.
Moussa also briefed the EU representatives on the latest developments in the constitutional committee and the political process in general, stressing the importance of protecting civilians and ensuring cessation of hostilities all over Syria as a necessary good faith measure to pave the way for initiation and continuation of a serious and irreversible political process. This, Moussa noted, requires supporting the political track and calling upon all relevant parties to engage responsibly to reach a comprehensive political solution by fully implementing Security Council resolution 2254 (2015), which among other things will ensure fundamentally resolving the humanitarian crisis in Syria. Moussa added that no political solution or process can be truly credible or implementable as long as Syrians are getting killed and displaced due to military operations or any other practices that violate their basic rights.
Finally, Moussa expressed gratitude for all the support that the EU has provided for the accountability track, including the IIIM as a way to preserve evidence for current and future prosecutions against perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Syria and against the Syrian people.
