Thank you, Mr. President.

Echoing Geir [Pedersen, Special Envoy for Syria], I am also deeply alarmed by the recent increase in violence in northern Syria, including in the northern Aleppo countryside and northeast Syria. Drone strikes and shelling have resulted in civilian casualties.

An attack in Al Hasakeh on 18 August claimed the lives of four civilian women and girls. And an attack on a market in Al Bab city on 19 August reportedly killed 13 civilians, including four boys and one girl.

The lives of these Syrian children were wiped out or forever altered.

Violence breeds fear of more violence, and both make people flee. As we hear renewed statements and read reports about preparations for a possible military operation in northern Syria, displacement is already happening.

Violence is also impeding our ability to operate. The cross-line mission to Ras al Ayn was postponed due to increased hostilities, despite all the necessary approvals and preparation.

Again, I want to remind all the parties to this conflict that international humanitarian law requires them to respect civilians and civilian objects, and to take constant care to spare them throughout their military operations.

I strongly appeal to the members of the Council to ensure respect for the rules of war and accountability for serious violations.

Mr. President,

This year alone, at least 26 murders have been reported at Al Hol camp, including those of 20 women, and we continue to receive reports of sexual violence, some perpetrated by the camp’s guards. In addition, humanitarian partners have reported an increase in sexual exploitation cases.

If hostilities escalate in northern Syria, there will likely be a negative impact on the protection of people in Al Hol camp, where the security situation is already extremely bad. Security challenges in the camp may further compromise the grim situation, and women and girls especially will be at even greater risk. Humanitarian organizations’ movements to the camp and to neighbouring areas could be further restricted, disrupting emergency and essential services.

Al Hol residents and the humanitarian partners working to assist them need more protection, safety and security.

Let me call once again on all Member States involved to take urgent action and fulfil their responsibility to repatriate their citizens through all available routes.

Opportunities for durable solutions for the people in Al Hol do exist. For example, on 12 August, the Government of Iraq repatriated 151 families — mainly female-headed households and highly vulnerable people — to Jeddah 1 in Ninewa Governorate. And 73 internally displaced families left Al Hol on 14 August, returning to various areas in Syria’s Deir-ez-Zor.

Mr. President,

Syria’s economic crisis continues to affect civilians across the country. FAO reported that last month’s wheat harvest in Syria was one of the lowest on record and the second failed wheat harvest in two years.

Fuel shortages and radically reduced access to electricity are having a crippling effect on the population, eroding livelihood opportunities and severely limiting access to essential services.

This is exacerbated by the water crisis across the country, which is affecting access to sufficient and safe drinking water and irrigation, as well as water to produce food and generate power.

As always, the economic crisis disproportionately affects women, girls, boys and people with disabilities, particularly their mobility and their access to basic services, including to reproductive health and protection services.

The United Nations continues to promote more funding for early recovery and resilience. At least 26 per cent of the overall request for humanitarian assistance in Syria aims to implement early recovery and resilience programmes. This is critical to enable Syrians to rebuild their lives with dignity.

At least 228 projects have received US$333 million to implement early recovery and resilience activities, representing 30 per cent of the funds requested. And at least 51 of these projects contribute to providing electricity to support basic services, including water and sanitation, nutrition, health and education.

It is worth noting here that overall funding to Syria’s Humanitarian Response Plan currently stands at only 24 per cent of the requested funds. The biggest challenge for aid agencies right now is funding, while the needs are increasing and will further increase as winter is coming. I want to call for greater solidarity and increased humanitarian funding from the international community, especially to early recovery and livelihood programmes.

Funding of mine action programmes, especially clearance, is critical. Progress has been made. Since December, over one million square meters of agricultural land has been cleared in rural Damascus. Increased funding to scale up such programs are needed.

Mr. President, let me turn to an update on humanitarian access.

The United Nations continues to do everything in its power to make progress on cross-line assistance to all parts of Syria.

In the north-west, the sixth cross-line mission to Sarmada, in Idleb Governorate, was completed on 4 and 5 August. I urge all concerned parties to expand these operations by allowing multiple cross-line convoys each month and increasing the number of trucks in each convoy.

Mr. President,

The United Nations and partners still do not have humanitarian access to people in Rukban. We remain deeply concerned about these people, as they have limited access to essential food items, water, health care and other basic services.

We remain committed to reach these people. But we need full access to assess their humanitarian needs and provide regular humanitarian assistance. We also need the necessary access and security conditions to support people who wish to leave the camp in a principled, voluntary and informed manner.

The humanitarian community is planning a multisectoral response that includes vaccinations. I call on all parties to support this plan and facilitate immediate humanitarian access and assistance to people in the camp.

Mr. President,

Late last month, I visited Gaziantep and Hatay in Türkiye to review the cross-border humanitarian response in light of the Security Council resolution.

I witnessed the large scale of the operation and the high level of scrutiny applied. I also heard from affected women in Idleb about the dismal humanitarian conditions in north-west Syria.

They told me that they need support to get back on their feet — what we technically call early recovery programmes — and that they need better access to education for their children.

Over the coming months, the United Nations will do its utmost to facilitate the implementation of all aspects of resolution 2642. But to make this happen, we need the support of all parties. We need meaningful resources, and we need sustained, regular and predictable access.

I am very concerned at the irreversible damage caused by chronic under-funding. It could compromise life-saving assistance and curtail investments in livelihood and essential services.

Lack of funding comes with severe consequences, including more drop-outs from school, higher malnutrition rates, and less protection interventions. If we do not act now, a generation of Syrian children might be lost.

It is critical that this Council shares responsibility for humanitarians’ life-saving work in Syria.

And I want to remind all parties of their obligation to facilitate rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access to all civilians in need across Syria. I call on all parties to facilitate access, across all response modalities, so that assistance can reach those in need.

And this brings me to my last point.

While we need your support today, we’ll need it even more in the coming months as winter approaches and our response shifts gears. We know the Syrian winter will bring more hardship, and we remain determined to assist people everywhere we can.

We count on your support to stay the course. Thank you.

Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs