United Nations: The U.N. Security Council called today for immediate access to Syria to provide desperately needed aid, expressing alarm at the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation.
The unanimous statement was a quick follow-up to the Security Council's first legally binding action on the 2 ½-year-old Syrian conflict—a resolution passed Friday that called on Syria to eliminate its chemical weapons.
British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant called the presidential statement on humanitarian aid “a very welcome, positive step after years of paralysis in the Security Council.” A presidential statement is a step below a resolution. Some diplomats consider presidential statements legally binding but others do not.
The statement aims at helping the nearly 7 million Syrians affected by the fighting, urges the Syrian government to facilitate “safe and unhindered humanitarian access to people in need through the most effective ways, including across conflict lines and, where appropriate, across borders from neighboring countries.”
The statement urges the Syrian government to facilitate “safe and unhindered humanitarian access to people in need through the most effective ways, including across conflict lines and, where appropriate, across borders from neighboring countries.”
