UNSC briefing on Syria (Political/Humanitarian)

[Monday, 20 December 2021]

INDIA STATEMENT

By

Mr. Pratik Mathur

Counsellor

Mr. President,

I join others in thanking Special Envoy Geir O. Pedersen and Under Secretary General Martin Griffiths for their updates today.

2. India has been reiterating since the beginning of the conflict that imposing external solutions cannot help in the resolution of the conflict. It is for the Syrians to determine and decide what is best for Syria and their own future. The decade long conflict and involvement of external players has adversely affected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.

3. Special Envoy has briefed in detail his recent efforts to engage proactively with all the stakeholders, including his visit to Damascus last week. We hope these efforts will bear fruit soon and culminate in the next round of the Constitutional Committee meeting. While the holding of this meeting is important, the progress in the step-by-step approach articulated by the Special Envoy needs mutual trust among all parties, including the external players. The support of the international community to address the economic and humanitarian challenges remains integral to the success of the political process.

4. The recent diplomatic engagement between Damascus and other capitals in the region is reassuring which may positively impact the restoration of Syria’s membership of the League of Arab States.

5. Regarding Confidence Building Measures, we welcome efforts by the Syrian authorities to prioritize the return of the displaced Syrians to their areas of origin. We also welcome the recent announcement of opening of border between Jordan and Syria.

6. On the security front, we remain concerned with the overall situation in Syria, including the increasing incidents of ceasefire violations in North-West Syria. We call on all sides to desist from any actions, including military provocations like missile strikes that may lead to violence and disturbance in Syria. Further, growing influence of terrorist groups in IDP camps like Al-Rukban and Al-Hol needs to be urgently addressed and issue of repatriation of foreign citizens from these camp sites needs to be dealt with, on priority.

7. UN designated terrorist groups such as ISIL and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, as mentioned in Secretary General’s recent reports, have continued to gain in strength in Syria. Da’esh, has also continued to launch attacks in areas across Dayr al-Zawr, Hasakah and eastern rural Homs. The global fight against terrorism cannot and should not be compromised for narrow political gains.

8. The humanitarian crisis in Syria has not seen significant improvement in the recent months. We believe that a nation-wide comprehensive ceasefire is paramount to the interest of the Syrian people; it will also help to expand crossline humanitarian aid operations. In this context, we note that progress has been made to expand the overall humanitarian response and facilitate crossline access. In the northwest, we believe there is considerable scope for expanding crossline operations. The ongoing cross-border operations will continue to negatively impact on the sovereignty of the Syrian State.

9. In the northeast, crossline operations have become regular and sustained. In October and November, WHO delivered crossline shipments by road and air. We encourage OCHA and UN agencies to expend efforts to enhance cross-line operations.

10. Taking into consideration the difficult economic and social situation in Syria, which has been further compounded by the global Covid-19 pandemic and the onset of winter, there is need to scale up humanitarian assistance. As this Council looks towards renewal of the Syria humanitarian resolution UNSCR 2585 next month, it is critical to achieve progress with regard to the provisions related to "expanding the scope of the work in early recovery and increasing the resilience of the infrastructure in Syria".

11. On our part, India has continued to extend developmental assistance and human resource development support to Syria through grants and lines of credits for developmental projects, supply of medicine and food, artificial limb fitment camps and capacity building training programs. Since the beginning of the conflict, India has always stood by the Syrian people. Let me conclude by reaffirming India’s commitment to a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned UN-facilitated political process in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254.

I thank you. 

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