SACD Newsletter

July 2022

Delivery of cross border humanitarian aid to Idlib is legal even without UNSC approval
The Syrian Association for Citizens’ Dignity and major Syrian civil society organizations come together to warn against the calamitous consequences of capitulating to Russia’s blackmail at the UNSC should it lead to the complete cessation of cross-border aid, leaving more than three million Syrians in dire humanitarian need.
The legal basis for the UN to continue delivering cross border humanitarian aid exists even if the UN SC withholds its approval. We call on the United Nations and the key governments to ensure that millions of civilians, already categorized by the UN as in ‘catastrophic need’ of humanitarian assistance, are not sacrificed on the false basis that the UN’s hands are tied by a Russian veto.

Beyond United Nations Security Council Approval for Aid to Idlib

In conversation with Refik Hodzic, Rebecca Barber, an Australian scholar of international law, discusses the sources of assumption that the UN SC must approve cross border aid to Idlib, and alternative approaches that could end Russia's chokehold threatening more than 3 million people with starvation.

UN can deliver humanitarian aid to Idlib legally without UNSC authorization

As the United Nations Security Council votes on the extension of the Resolution 2165 for six more months, which Russia has threatened to veto and leave more than three million Syrians, (mostly displaced from elsewhere in Syria and mostly children) without the lifeline of cross border humanitarian aid, the conversation surrounding this humanitarian crisis has been entirely focused on appealing to Russia’s humanitarian instincts, expecting that the illustrations of the devastating impact on Syrian lives of its action in the UNSC will somehow make Vladimir Putin change his mind and allow for aid to continue flowing into Idlib.

The time has come for the conversation on humanitarian aid to north-west Syria to change, as there is every moral, political and, most importantly, legal argument for it. Humanitarian aid to Idlib can and must continue to be delivered even if the UNSC approval is withheld.

Click here to read the full briefing.

Syrian regime has a decisive say over who UN funds in Syria

This interview was conducted as one of the 45 interviews with employees and managers of 29 Syrian and international NGOs and UN agencies operating in Assad-held Syria for the report “Weaponization of aid: Syrian regime’s methods of controlling humanitarian sector” Farah (not the real name) has previously held an administrative position in one of the United Nations agencies in Syria, in addition to her previous work in an administrative position in one of the Syrian regime’s ministries related to the work of local, international and UN organizations.

Weaponization of Aid, Interference and Corruption: Syrian Regime's Methods of Control of Humanitarian Sector

The Syrian regime’s weaponisation of the humanitarian aid that the overwhelming majority of Syrians depend on has been thoroughly documented in the last 10 years. International forums have presented ample evidence that the Assad regime has deliberately starved opposition-held areas, blackmailed United Nations (UN) agencies, appropriated aid for the military and militias, used aid to advance its military strategy, propped up its war economy with aid funds, and employed various other tactics that involve using humanitarian aid agencies to further its goal.

Click here to read full report which is based on interviews with 45 employees of 29 organisations operating in Assad-held Syria. Mostly Syrians and several internationals, these individuals work in international aid organisations, UN agencies, and Syrian humanitarian and civil society organisations (CSOs).