Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari stressed the necessity of ending the economic, trade, financial and health terrorism represented by the unilateral coercive economic measures imposed by western countries on Syria, pointing out that to achieve any improvement of the humanitarian situation necessitates cooperation and coordination with the Syrian State and refraining from politicizing the humanitarian work.
Jaafari said during a UN Security Council video session on the “humanitarian situation in Syria” on Tuesday that Syria has recently, and in cooperation with a number of UN member states, sent official letters and calls to the UN Secretary General and presidents of the Security Council calling for the lifting of those illegitimate coercive economic measures imposed by a number of UN member states on the Syrian people.
He indicated that those calls received positive responses from the UN Secretary General and a number of senior UN officials, among them the UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, the special rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the implementation of human rights and special rapporteurs on the right to education, on adequate housing, and on the right to food, in addition to World Health Organization and more than forty other global organizations, which call for lifting the unilateral coercive measures that affect almost two billion people around the world.
He said that the US administration and its allies continued to violate international law and the UN charter and human rights, and that over the past two months, they have attempted to foil any initiatives or draft resolutions demanding to end the repercussions of those measures or the possibility of fighting coronavirus in the targeted countries.
“The US administration even announced the extension of the unfair unilateral coercive sanctions imposed on the Syrian people in a flagrant violation of international law, UN charters and resolutions and all the calls to lift those measures,” he added.
He indicated that over the years, Syria has repeatedly informed the UN Security Council of the catastrophic effects of the coercive economic measures on the daily lives of 24 million Syrians and the ability of the state’s institutions and the health, economic and service sectors to shoulder their responsibilities in the best way amid the epidemic of coronavirus.
Jaafari said that the coercive measures imposed by the EU and the US are illegal, and represent an attempt to circumvent the legitimacy of the Security Council and are aimed at undermining the sovereignty of the Syrian state.
Jaafari pointed out that the prospect of the European and American medical and humanitarian supplies to Syria are at their lowest levels due to the wide range of restrictions and preconditions imposed on these supplies, adding that all the allegations by Western countries, who impose coercive measures on Syria, are just the latest desperate attempt that seeks to “humanize their brutal behavior” and their economic terrorism and collective punishment practiced against the Syrian people.
Jaafari said that the Turkish regime continues to violate its obligations under international law and international water and rivers agreements by building the Elisso Dam on the Tigris Riverm which will deprive millions of Syrians and Iraqis of water for years, in addition to that the Turkish regime continues to use water as a weapon against the Syrian civilians in Hassakeh city and its surroundings.
Jaafari indicated that the US occupation forces impeded the work of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in the northeastern areas of the country, and sought to replace it with other organizations that lack legitimacy.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
