“I lived in a tent for two months, then my cousin offered me to go and stay with him, together with my three children. I am a widow, I have no income. Before the earthquakes my uncle who lived with his family in Turkey sent me something, then they all died”.
These are the disconsolate words of a Syrian widow. She is part of 265,000 newly displaced by earthquakes that hit northwestern Syria in February, which joined ad another two million and 600,000 “old” displaced people from conflict zones. In total, including residents, four million people in northwestern Syria depend entirely on humanitarian assistance, guaranteed by the United Nations at the moment through a single cross-border crossing, the Turkish one at Bab al-Hawa.
An indispensable impartial assistance given that in 2014, when the area fell into the hands of armed opposition groups, the Syrian government has cut off the provision of essential services.
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Since then, through various Security Council resolutions, help has arrived: we are talking about water and food but also about housing, schools, water and sanitation infrastructure. Politicization of Russia’s delivery of UN cross-border assistance has limited the number of accessible crossing points to one and shortened the duration of renewals.
In January 2023 the Security Council has extended the permit for just six monthsinsufficient time even to assess needs, coordinate with local authorities, make proposals, receive funding and implement programs.
As I write, I do not know if the Security Council will renew this form of assistance: the six months expire exactly today. What is certain is that the non-renewal would have a devastating impact on a region already devastated by the February earthquakes.
Here the solicitations of United Nations e you Amnesty International.