SAVE THE CHILDREN STATEMENT ON THE RENEWAL OF THE UN CROSS BORDER RESOLUTION

As millions of children and their families in Syria continue to be forced to flee their homes due to conflict, the United Nations Security Council has voted to limit the scope of Resolution 2449 (2018), which allows the UN and partners to deliver aid using border crossings not in control by the government of Syria.

Save the Children condemns the scale back. The border crossings serve as a lifeline to more than four million civilians inside Syria – including two million children - the majority of whom cannot receive vital aid by any other means. While the UN Security Council has managed to pass a critical resolution that is needed across Syria, the scale back in the scope of the resolution will harm Syria’s children.

Inger Ashing, Chief Executive of Save the Children International, said:

“While we welcome the renewal, there is no excuse for limiting the resolution’s scope at a time when thousands of Syria’s civilians live in open fields, when attacks on civilian infrastructure continue and millions continue to be in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

“In Idlib, there are already millions of people in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The harsh winter conditions are being compounded by the fact that thousands of people are living in open fields.

“Effectively, what the Security Council is saying with the resolution’s scale-back is that member states politics are more important than providing children with a roof to sleep under, enough food to eat, an education or the ability to simply feel safe.”