Pretoria - The United Nations Security Council on Saturday unanimously approved a resolution to boost humanitarian aid access in Syria, a move Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said can ease some civilian suffering, if it is implemented quickly and in good faith.
Through Resolution 2139 (2014), the council demanded "that all parties, in particular the Syrian authorities, promptly allow rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access for UN humanitarian agencies and their implementing partners, including across conflict lines and across borders".
The 15-member council also called for an immediate end to all forms of violence in the country and strongly condemned the rise of Al Qaida-affiliated terror.
Members insisted that all parties cease attacking civilians, including through the indiscriminate use of weapons in populated areas, such as shelling and aerial bombardment with barrel bombs, whose use has been condemned by senior UN officials.
Ban, who participated in the rare Saturday meeting, welcomed the resolution but added that it "should not have been necessary" as humanitarian assistance is not something to be negotiated but allowed by virtue of international law.
He expressed profound shock that both sides are besieging civilians as a tactic of war, and noted that reports of human rights violations continue, including massacres, as well as sexual and gender-based violence against children.
In the resolution, the Council strongly condemned the widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by the Syrian authorities, and urged all parties involved in the conflict to lift sieges of populated areas, including in Aleppo, Damascus and Rural Damascus, and Homs. – SAnews.gov.za
