This is “a first step in response to the political influence of the Syrian government and the inaction of United Nations agencies and other humanitarian actors based in Damascus”, the letter said.
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“The Syrian aid groups took aim at the failure of the United Nations to provide necessary aid to almost 600,000 people living in besieged areas, most of which are surrounded by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces”. In their letter, the nonprofits said the Syrian government is stopping aid from reaching areas outside its control, and they called for a new monitoring body to oversee the humanitarian effort.
“The Syrian government has interfered with the delivery of humanitarian assistance in multiple instances, including the blocking of aid to besieged areas, the removal of medical aid from inter-agency convoys, the disregard for needs-assessments and information coming from humanitarian actors in Syria, and the marginalization of other humanitarian actors in the critical planning phases of crisis response”, states the letter, which was sent to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
However, observers said the Syrian military’s campaign also aims to recapture areas in the northern and southern countryside of Aleppo in the face of Turkey’s perceived attempts to establish a safe zone in northern Syria.
British newspaper The Guardian last month reported that United Nations aid contracts worth tens of millions of dollars have gone to people closely associated with Assad despite USA and European Union sanctions. It also found the United Nations had paid over $13 million to the Syrian government to improve farming and agriculture – although the European Union has banned trade with those departments.
Namely, the groups say, humanitarian programs are being implemented in government areas while besieged areas are being deprived of those same services.
The U.N.’s work in Syria has come under fire since an investigation published last week by the British newspaper The Guardian revealed lucrative contracts were awarded to people close to Assad.
“We welcome any public scrutiny to our humanitarian work in Syria”, it added.
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He praised the “tremendous work” by the aid groups “who are often the first responders on the front lines” and said “we’re going to continue to engage with them”.
