Kuwait has called on all parties involved in Syria to immediately facilitate the access of humanitarian aids to Syrians in Rukban refugee camp in Homs province.
This came in a statement delivered by the Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the United Nations, Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi, on behalf of the penholders of the Syrian humanitarian file, Sweden and Kuwait, at the UN Security Council Briefing on the humanitarian situation in Syria.
Ambassador Al-Otaibi expressed his thanks to the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, for his valuable briefing, which confirms the continuing dire humanitarian situation in Syria".
"We support your five asks and call upon all Council members to work vigorously to this end", he continues, paying tribute to all medical and humanitarian workers for their efforts in the field to alleviate the suffering in Syria. In the statement, Al-Otaibi focused on the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure and humanitarian access.
Regarding the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, he reaffirmed that all parties must respect and ensure respect for international humanitarian law in all circumstances by protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure. "We call on all parties to respect international human rights law. The period covered by the Secretary-General's report has witnessed killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, deprivation of liberty, abduction, torture, and inhumane, cruel and degrading treatment." "We condemn in the strongest terms these practices against civilians by any party", he explained.
Al-Otaibi welcomed the Russian-Turkish agreement on ceasefire in Idlib - whose population is around 3 million, including 1 million children, which averted the immediate threat of a humanitarian catastrophe there. "We applaud the prepositioning measures taken by the United Nations and its humanitarian partners of humanitarian assistance and food to places in Idlib in preparation for the worst possible situation", he noted.
In this regard, he stressed the importance of the sustainability of the cease-fire in Idlib, and throughout Syria, to enable access to humanitarian assistance and evacuation of injured persons in accordance with international law and as stipulated in resolution 2401.
He called upon all parties to strengthen the protection of civilians during military operations against the terrorist group - Daesh (ISIL), expressing their concern about the continuing danger of explosives, including mines and improvised explosive devices in Raqqa, especially for the 152,000 people who have returned.
Kuwait's ambassador, condemned attacks against hospitals and critical civilian facilities, reminding all parties of resolution 2286, to respect and protect medical and humanitarian personnel engaged in medical duties.
The report also refers to a number of cases where schools have been targeted, resulting in the suspension of school activity, calling the parties to fulfill their obligations under international law and the need to comply with resolution 2427 on children and armed conflict and not to target schools. As for the humanitarian access, Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi said" there are still significant challenges for the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Syria, as stated in the report of the Secretary-General", although 1.5 million people remain in hard-to-reach areas, inter-agency convoys have not been approved since 16 August". "We call upon the Syrian authorities to cooperate with the United Nations to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches those most in need, especially in those areas that have come back under government control, through the various humanitarian modalities", he continued. In this context, he welcomed the recent joint statement agreed by Turkey, Russia, France and Germany that underscored the need to ensure humanitarian organizations' rapid, safe and unhindered access throughout Syria and immediate humanitarian assistance to reach all people in need in order to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people.
He stressed the importance of the cross-border humanitarian assistance, which provides an indispensable lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people across Syria.
He expressed deep concern over the horrible situation in Al-Rukban, where more than 45,000 people are suffering acute shortages of food, humanitarian and medical supplies. " Sweden and Kuwait, as penholders of the Syria humanitarian file and amongst the largest donors to the Syria humanitarian response plan, will ensure that the Council closely follows the humanitarian catastrophe which is expected to continue in the near and medium term", the statement added.
"The humanitarian situation and suffering will only be alleviated by achieving progress on the political track, through a political solution based on resolution 2254 and the Geneva Communique, the statement concluded.