A 9-month-old infant named as Sham Ahmad al Jousani who displaced from Eastern Ghouta in the east of Damascus suburbs governorate and resided on al Bal IDPs Camp in the northeastern suburbs of Aleppo governorate had suffered from malnutrition. Sham died on July 10, 2020 after she was transferred to a hospital in Marea city in Aleppo suburbs when her health was getting worse and inability of her parents to afford food due to deteriorating of living conditions.
SNHR noted in several reports to the danger of the bad living conditions in the northwest Syria in general and among the residents of camps in particular where IDPs are the poorest group in Syrian society. In case of failure of delivery of UN humanitarian aid across borders, we will face hundreds of thousands deaths resulting from famine and lack of heath care in particular among children, women and special needs persons.
We note the Russia and China used veto on July 10, 2020 for the second time during three days against the delivery of humanitarian aid across borders, a move which sets a dangerous precedent for the delivery of humanitarian aid, even by the UN’s neutral Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. At the same time, the aid which is delivered is seized by the Syrian regime which loots the majority of aid donated. The SNHR stated in a previous report that cross-border aid delivery must not be subject to intervention or the whim of the Security Council and should continue across borders in cases where the governing regime is involved in crimes against humanity through displacement and by the looting of aid which will harm millions of IDPs. We also note that even while Russia, China and other totalitarian states are calling for the lifting of sanctions imposed on Syria under the pretext of supposedly fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, they are simultaneously using their UN veto against neutral humanitarian aid.
