Report: FAILING SYRIA – ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS IN PROTECTING AND ASSISTING CIVILIANS IN SYRIA
Written by Martin Hartberg, with Dominic Bowen and Daniel Gorevan, Camilla Jelbart Mosse, David Andres Vinas, Karl Schembri, Tiril Skarstein, Joelle Bassoul, Misty Buswell and Nina Nepesova assisted in its production.
March 2015 :: 30 pages  Download Report
Agency Sponsors
ACTED
Alkarama Foundation
American Friends Service Committee
ChildrenPlus
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Hand in Hand For Syria
Handicap International
Human Rights and Democracy Media Center (SHAMS)
International Rescue Committee
Medecins Du Monde
Norwegian Church Aid
Norwegian Refugee Council
NuDay Syria
Oxfam
Pax Christi International
Save the Children
Syria Relief Network
Syrian American Medical Society
Tulip for Syria Relief
Un Ponte Per
World Vision International

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[Excerpt]
CONCLUSION
It is over a year since UNSC Resolution 2139 was adopted, and four years since the start of the crisis. While subsequent resolutions have been passed by the UNSC, humanitarian access in Syria has decreased, and millions more people have been displaced and are in need of assistance. The number of people killed has risen by thousands.

The primary responsibility for the implementation of the resolutions, and the failure to do so, lies with the parties to the conflict. The conflict itself, however, is increasingly international and regional in character and the members of the UNSC and member states of the United Nations must change tack.

The UNSC has the legal authority to require action, and now its members must use their influence with the warring parties and their financial resources to put an end to the suffering of Syrian civilians. They must listen to the silent majority of Syrians who wish to see an end to the violence, and a sustainable and just peace in their country.

Practical steps must be taken as a matter of urgency. Deliberate obstruction of aid must halt immediately, as must the use of indiscriminate weapons in built-up areas, the targeting of civilians, and their arbitrary detention, kidnapping and torture. The impunity which characterizes
the conflict must be brought to an end. Real backing for the UN Peace Envoy’s plans must be matched by a push to reconvene talks in line with the 2012 Geneva Communiqué, and redoubled efforts to end the violence engulfing the country and region.

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Press Release
Aid Agencies Give UN Security Council a “Fail” Grade on Syria
21 Humanitarian and Human Rights Organizations Say Warring Parties and Powerful States Have Failed to Implement UNSC Resolutions Leading to “Worst Year” of Crisis for Civilians in Syria.
Washington, D.C. (March 12, 2015) — The agencies today released a scathing critique of the UN Security Council powers detailing how they have failed to alleviate the suffering of civilians in Syria amid intensifying conflict four years after the start of the crisis.

Despite three Security Council resolutions adopted in 2014 that demanded action to secure protection and assistance for civilians, humanitarian access to large parts of Syria has diminished and more people are being killed, displaced and are in need of help than ever before, according to the report “Failing Syria.”…

In the hard-hitting report agencies present a score card that compares the demands made in the Security Council resolutions last year, with the reality on the ground. The grim statistics reveal how the resolutions have been ignored or undermined by the parties to the conflict, members of the Security Council and other UN member states, leading to the worst year of the crisis for civilians:

:: People are not protected: 2014 has seen reports of 76,000 people killed in the conflict out of a total of at least 220,000 deaths over four years.

:: Aid access has not improved: 4.8 million people reside in areas defined by the UN as “hard to reach,” 2.3 million more than in 2013.

:: Humanitarian needs have increased: 5.6 million children are in need of aid, a 31 percent increase since 2013.

:: Humanitarian funding has decreased compared to needs: In 2013, 71% of the funds needed to support civilians inside Syria and refugees in neighbouring countries were provided. In 2014, this had declined to 57%.

“The bitter reality is that the Security Council has failed to implement its resolutions. Last year was the darkest year yet in this horrific war. Parties to the conflict have acted with impunity and ignored the Security Council’s demands, civilians are not protected and their access to relief has not improved,” said Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland…