S/PV.7324 Security Council

The President: In accordance with rule 39 of the Council's provisional rules of procedure, I invite Ms. Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, to participate in this meeting. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2014/840, which contains the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014) and 2165 (2014). I now welcome and give the floor to Ms. Amos.

Ms. Amos: Nine months ago, the Council adopted resolution 2139 (2014), which set out a comprehensive series of proposals to tackle the significant protection, access and humanitarian challenges facing civilians and humanitarian partners in Syria. After several months of detailed reporting to the Council setting out the continued horror of the situation inside Syria, with thousands of people trapped in besieged and hard- to-reach communities and the lack of implementation of the provisions contained in resolution 2139 (2014), the Council adopted resolution 2165 (2014), aimed at increasing access to the people most in need. The purpose was to support a "whole of Syria" approach, which would enable United Nations agencies and international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to choose the best method for the delivery of desperately needed assistance across conflict lines inside Syria or cross-border, including through four additional border crossing points, as authorized by the Council. Resolution 2165 (2014) has helped the United Nations overcome some of the challenges we faced by permitting direct delivery to hundreds of thousands of people, complementing the considerable cross- border deliveries conducted by NGOs. Collectively, since the adoption of the resolution and primarily through cross-border deliveries, we have delivered to nearly all the hard-to-reach locations in the four governorates - Aleppo, Idlib, Daraa and Quneitra. This expanded reach has already led to a more effective response. That is why I hope that the Council will renew the provisions contained in resolution 2165 (2014). They have made a difference. But despite the progress we have made, it is still not enough. We have faced considerable challenges in implementing resolutions 2139 (2014) and 2165 (2014) and continue to fall short of meeting the humanitarian needs of all the people we aim to reach in Syria. No more than two besieged locations have been reached in any month since the adoption of resolution 2165 (2014), and only one location has been reached in each of the past two months. This is a conflict that is affecting every Syrian. Syria's economy has contracted some 40 per cent since 2011. Unemployment now exceeds 54 per cent. Three quarters of the population lives in poverty. School attendance has dropped by more than 50 per cent. Young people have few prospects of a bright future. We have lamented the possibility ofa lost generation of Syria's children; it is now a reality. One ofthe consequences ofresolution 2165 (2014) is that we now have better data with respect to the number of people in need. Some 12.2 million people are now in urgent need of humanitarian assistance throughout the country. More than five million of those in need are children. Violence has forced nearly half of Syrians from their homes, many of them multiple times. There are now some 7.6 million people displaced inside Syria. In addition, more than 3.2 million people have fled the country, and countries in the region and communities hosting refugees are bearing an enormous burden. This is the largest number of people displaced by conflict in the world. Despite the repeated calls from the Council for the fighting to stop and hard-hitting reports from the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic of ongoing abuses of human rights, civilians continue to be killed and injured every day. The Commission's recent report documented the brutality of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, including its barbaric treatment of women and children and the systematic use of torture, murder, rape and enslavement. Opposition groups, including designated terrorist groups, mete out brutal punishment and attack civilian services. The Government's aerial attacks, including with barrel bombs, have pounded civilian areas, civilian facilities and camps for internally displaced persons. Today - the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women - we particularly remember Syria's women and children. Sexual violence has been used as a form of torture to injure, to degrade and to intimidate and as punishment. As detailed in the report of the Secretary-General to the Council this month (S/2014/784), United Nations organizations and their partners continue to work in extreme and dangerous circumstances. Sixty-nine workers have been killed since the beginning of the conflict. We should all be humbled by the commitment and bravery of the thousands of workers who risk their lives to deliver much-needed aid to people throughout Syria. As the situation on the ground becomes more dangerous and difficult, it is even more important that humanitarian actors be able to use all tools at their disposal to reach people in need, from within the country and across borders. I hope that Member States will continue to use their influence with the parties to the conflict to remind them to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law and guarantee regular and unhindered access. The Council must also continue to call for an end to the bureaucratic steps that hinder the delivery of assistance, push for the inclusion of medical supplies in convoys, and call for the lifting of sieges. When resolution 2139 (2014) was adopted in February, there were 220,000 people besieged by either Government or opposition forces. Some 212,000 remain besieged today - 185,500 people by Government forces and 26,500 people by opposition forces. The Council must also push for an end to the violence that is destroying the people and the country and having such a destabilizing impact on the region. Humanitarian appeals for Syria and the region remain critically underfunded. I again appeal to donors to do more to fund humanitarian action in response to the Syrian crisis. The appeal is less than half-funded. Every day that passes, more Syrian children, women and men die. More look to the international community for help and support. We on the humanitarian side will continue to do all we can. But as I have said to the Security Council on many occasions, this crisis requires a political solution. I hope, for the sake of the people of Syria, that one is found soon.

The President: I thank Under-Secretary-General Amos for her briefing. I know I speak on behalf of the Security Council in this public meeting in extending our gratitude and admiration for the selfless contributions of all humanitarian workers in this conflict and to those in the United Nations system and the rest of the international humanitarian system who are doing so much to bring what relief we can to those suffering. I now invite Council members to informal consultations to continue our discussion on the subject. The meeting rose at 3.15 pm.