IN New York this week Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is urged to use the nation’s influence on the UN’s top decision-making body to call for the Security Council to unite in support of a resolution for full and immediate humanitarian access inside Syria.
The call from aid agency Save the Children follows the failure this weekend of the so-called Geneva II peace talks to break the deadlock in Syria.
All eyes now turn to New York and the United Nation’s Security Council who will meet later this week and it is hoped vote on a resolution for full and immediate humanitarian access inside Syria.
CEO of Save the Children Paul Ronalds said: “Ultimately, we need an end to the bloodshed and for parties to agree to stop the fighting. But until that happens, full and immediate humanitarian access would ensure medical care for injured children, food for starving families, clean water, shelter and some hope for the future.
“We encourage Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to help unite the Security Council this week in a resolution demanding full and unfettered humanitarian access in Syria. Syria’s children cannot wait any longer.”
Since joining the UN Security Council last year Australia has proved worthy of a seat at the UN’s top decision-making table.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop MP is widely acknowledged as a chief architect of a UN Presidential Statement on humanitarian access inside Syria, aimed to send a strong message to all of the parties fighting in Syria that they should facilitate unfettered humanitarian access.
However, since then there has been almost no progress. Tens of thousands more people have died and the humanitarian situation has deteriorated.
“The Australian sponsored UN Security Council Presidential Statement on Syria was an important and welcome step, but we are concerned by the very limited progress in its implementation since its adoption over four months ago,” Mr Ronalds added.
“A resolution would be a clear statement that enough is enough, and that the world is united in its call to allow all civilians affected by the war in Syria to receive the life-saving aid they are entitled to.”
Ryan Fritz
Ryan Fritz started The Advocate in 2014 to provide not-for-profits and charities another media platform to tell their worthwhile hard news stories and opinion pieces effortlessly. In 2020, Ryan formed a team of volunteer journalists to help spread even more high-quality stories from the third sector. He also has over 10 years experience as a media and communications professional for not-for-profits and charities and currently works at Redkite, a childhood cancer charity.
