World Vision welcomes the adoption of UNSC Resolution 2533

• World Vision welcomes the UN Security Council Resolution 2533 adopted today.
• The UN Security Council members need to still find a solution for the northeast, and to work to expand access to all of the northwest through all modalities.
• There is an urgent need to prevent and respond to COVID-19 with the first case confirmed positive in Idleb on July 9.

Sunday, 12 July 2020: World Vision welcomes the UN Security Council Resolution 2533 adopted today, which stipulates that the UN’s cross-border operation for Syria is authorised for 12 months through the Bab Al-Hawa crossing from Turkey to Syria. While this resolution allows humanitarian agencies to continue providing critical life-saving assistance to children and their families, the de-authorisation of Bab-Al-Salam will have a devastating effect on the 1.3 million people who can only be reached through this crossing. When conflict caused nearly 1 million to flee earlier this year, the use of the Bab-Al-Salam crossing increased by 128% to provide a lifeline to those displaced.

“We have said it before and we will say it again, UN Security Council members must understand that reaching all Syrians, on the basis of need alone, is a humanitarian imperative. When an essential border crossing point is removed, lives are lost. We need more access, not less,” said Johan Mooij, Syria Response Director for World Vision International. Aid agencies have raised the alarm to prepare for COVID-19, and with the first case confirmed positive in Idleb on July 9, the urgency to prevent and respond to this virus underscores the importance of unfettered access to the all of the northwest through all modalities, including cross-border. In northeast Syria, we have already seen the impact of removing a cross-border point, with only 33 per cent of health facilities reached with medical supplies, despite COVID-19 cases confirmed. We urge the UN Security Council members to still find a solution for the northeast, and to work to expand access to all of the northwest through all modalities.

“We must not fail the people of Syria. They have already endured nearly 10 years of conflict and they should not continue living in this nightmare where politics are played with people’s lives,” added Mooij.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Elias Abu Ata, Syria Response Communications Manager, World Vision International

elias_abuata@wvi.org | +962 775 446 556

Lyndsay Hockin, UN Representative for Humanitarian Affairs & Senior Policy Advisor, World Vision International

lyndsay_hockin@wvi.org | +1 646 460 5237