China’s UN Envoy Calls for Greater Humanitarian Funding for Syria

BEIJING (KI) – China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations has called upon concerned parties to increase support and bridge humanitarian funding gaps in Syria so that aid is reaching where it is most needed.

“At present, the huge gaps in humanitarian funding for Syria have already affected the implementation of relief operations and early recovery projects. We hope that the parties concerned will honor their commitments and further increase their funding support,” Geng Shuang said at a UN Security Council briefing on Syria.
The envoy said the Syrian government has so far opened Bab al-Salam and al-Ra’ee crossings in the northwestern part of the country, taken positive measures to facilitate humanitarian access, ended the case-by-case approval procedure for cross-line assistance, and facilitated visa issuance for humanitarian workers.
“These initiatives are welcomed by the parties concerned, and China commends these efforts,” Geng said.
He said the Security Council should pay closer attention to unfolding developments in Syria and implementation of Resolution 2672, which calls for both cross-line and cross-border humanitarian assistance, plan its programs more carefully, and further increase humanitarian relief to Syria and alleviate the ongoing humanitarian crisis there.
Geng underscored that cross-line operations should be the primary mode of humanitarian relief in Syria. However, the operations were interrupted for the past four months due to the obstruction by local authorities in northwest Syria.
“The Security Council must come up with practical solutions to break the barriers in cross-line delivery, improve efficiency, and increase scale to ensure greater stability and predictability of the relief work,” he said.