«Fighting the consequences and the roots of the humanitarian emergency in and around Syria»
Bern, 30.09.2015 - New York, 30.09.2015 – Address by the Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter on the occasion of the Informal Ministerial-Level Meeting on the Syria Crisis: "Re-thinking the international response to the biggest crisis of our times – how to respond better to growing and evolving needs" - Check against delivery
Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The war in Syria has been going on for too long. For far too long. It has caused suffering beyond measure and is affect-ing millions of people.
We have a responsibility to do our utmost both to alleviate the humanitarian consequences of the war and to fight its root causes.
1. Let us begin with the humanitarian response: we need to do much more and we need to do it soon. With winter arriving, the terrible conditions for the suffering civilian population in and around Syria could lead to disaster. The most vulnerable will be hit the hardest, and many more will take the ever more dangerous road to Europe. At the same time, many large humanitarian organisations are dangerously underfinanced.
Ten days ago, the Swiss government decided to increase its humanitarian assistance to the region by 72 million USD, bringing its total humanitarian help to the region to about 250 mio USD since the beginning of the crisis in 2011.
We commend Syria’s neighbouring states, who have of-fered shelter and humanitarian assistance to millions of vic-tims to the conflict. Switzerland is supporting these states by rehabilitating schools in Jordan and Lebanon. So far, this has allowed 28,000 pupils to attend school. Another 42 schools are currently being refurbished.
As a part of the humanitarian response, we also need to help the helpers. We need to support the organisations and the courageous men and women who struggle to bring a little dignity and perspective to those who are deprived of so much. To ensure better humanitarian access, we need to talk with all concerned in a spirit of pragmatism.
We need to explain the principles of humanitarian assis-tance, such as impartiality, humanity and independence.
Switzerland has been holding trilateral humanitarian dia-logue with Iran and Syria since 2013. This dialogue aims at ensuring unhindered access, and improving the working conditions of humanitarian actors in Syria.
2. The humanitarian response to the war in Syria is para-mount, but in order to stop the suffering, we must stop the war. We must put all our energy into finding a political solu-tion to this conflict, and the sooner, the better.
Switzerland strongly supports the efforts of UN Special En-voy de Mistura to foster parallel thematic discussions through intra-Syrian working groups set up to address the principal aspects of the Geneva Communiqué of 2012.
From the start, Switzerland has vigorously supported the UN in seeking a political solution to the Syrian tragedy. We will continue to do so with experts, logistics and financial resources for as long as it takes. We owe it to the victims of the Syrian war.
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