UN and Syrian government implicated in aid failures after quake, says UN commission
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Loading... - Nicole Gabe
- 14 Mar 2023
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Delay in aid arriving to devastated areas of north-west Syria described as 'shocking'
The UN and the Syrian government were responsible for delays in getting emergency aid to Syrians after last month's earthquake, a UN-appointed commission of inquiry said on Monday.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, the commission's chairman Paulo Pinheiro called for an independent investigation into what he described as “the wholesale failure by the [Syrian] government and the international community, including the United Nations, to rapidly direct urgent life-saving support to Syrians in the most dire need.”
“Many days were lost without any aid to the survivors of the earthquake”, said Mr Pinheiro.
The commission's three members did not specify which body should conduct the investigation, but said that while they did not doubt that the UN could conduct its own internal investigation, it would be best for the global body to be excluded.
“The good practice is that it should be independent of the parties involved in the failures, and in that sense of course the UN is in midst of that”, said Commissioner Hanny Megally.
The allegations add to a growing chorus of criticism of the UN for its role in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and its aftershocks that killed about 6,000 people in Syria, mostly in the rebel-held north-west area near the Turkish border. At least 44,000 people died in Turkey.
“We were appalled, watching day by day, no aid coming into the north-west,” said Mr Megally, who described the UN and the international community as “paralysed”.
“People [were] saying: we need heavy equipment, we need search teams with dogs, people are still alive under the rubble, where is the UN, the international community, to help us, and they could see, not far away … lots of international assistance being provided on the Turkish side of the border”, added Mr Megally.
“We're actually quite shocked that this happened and went on for days and days and over a week before there was an agreement reached with Damascus”, he continued. “Shocking that Damascus would not have agreed immediately for it to come, but also shocking that the UN and the international community did not act more quickly.” Read More…
