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Humanitarian Access

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 October 2016

Tuesday, 25 October 2016

Ceisteanna (24)

Seán Crowe

Ceist:

24. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his Department is assisting in efforts to open a humanitarian corridor to allow aid to reach the besieged civilians of eastern Aleppo and other besieged areas in Syria; and the efforts his Department is undertaking to help to establish a durable and lasting ceasefire in this conflict which is nearly six years old. [32024/16]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí ó Béal (11 píosaí cainte)

We had a long debate last Thursday on the situation in Syria, prior to which I had tabled this question. I am trying to find out the specific efforts in which Ireland is assisting to help to open humanitarian corridors in besieged areas of Syria. What specific initiatives are we supporting or involved in? I heard what the Minister said about the figure of €62 million. We give aid to refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Syria. It is about the specifics. I just get a sense that perhaps there is nothing we can do about it, but what specifically is Ireland doing differently with regard to the situation in Syria?

Last month, during my meeting in Dublin with the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Mr. Stylianides, I discussed the European Union's new humanitarian initiative for Aleppo which was launched in rapid response to the recent and disturbing escalation of the conflict in Aleppo. This joint EU-UN initiative includes two main elements: first, to facilitate the urgent delivery of basic life saving assistance to civilians in eastern Aleppo and, second, to ensure the medical evacuations of the wounded and the sick, with a focus on women, children and the elderly. I also discussed this issue with my EU counterparts at last week’s Foreign Affairs Council. At that meeting it was agreed that "the EU will continue intensive humanitarian diplomacy and seek ways to improve access and protection as well as to promote humanitarian principles and local consensus on guidelines for the delivery of aid". I expect Ireland to provide additional support in the near future for people affected by the crisis.

It is clear that the Assad regime and its allies, including Russia, are determined to prevent humanitarian access from reaching civilian populations in opposition-held areas. While supporting the population in Aleppo is a critical priority, the attack by the Assad regime and its allies against a humanitarian convoy in September underlines the risks to humanitarian actors.

The Government has provided unprecedented humanitarian assistance, totalling €62 million, for the Syrian people since 2012. My EU colleagues and I spoke on Monday, 17 October, to UN Special Envoy de Mistura, underlining our continuing and strong support for his efforts to stem the destruction of Syria and her people. We remain engaged through the European Union in the International Syria Support Group and continue to support efforts to find political solutions to the appalling conflict in Syrian.

We all agree that this is one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent times. From the debate, we all agree that we are appalled at the savage aerial bombardment of eastern Aleppo by the Syrian and Russian armies and the bombing of Kurdish areas in northern Syria by the Turkish army. We all agree that all sides urgently need to establish a ceasefire and use their influence to broker a deal to end the conflict. We would all like to see another attempt being made to establish humanitarian corridors. Does the Minister know whether another attempt will be made to establish them? I listened to what he said about the UN convention and the communiqué, but I wonder whether initiatives are coming from other like-minded countries throughout the world which have been involved in peacekeeping and peace building. Have we had discussions with any of them on this issue? This is about trying to think outside the box. Is there a unique role we could play as a people and an independent actor, aside from the refugee support we are giving to the Syrian people? Is there anything the Minister believes we could do on top of working in the European Union and the United Nations?

Earlier I referred to the efforts made on the part of the United Nations to renew political negotiations based on the 2012 Geneva communiqué. This is something that was discussed at length last week with my foreign affairs colleagues and colleagues on the margins of the meeting. However, in the first instance, we need to do all we can to bring about an end to the hostilities and the conflict. That is why it is important that every effort be made to ensure a cessation. The pause we saw over the weekend, described in some reports as a humanitarian pause, needs to be extended. We need to allow humanitarian aid to enter the city of Aleppo in order that it can be administered to those most in need of it. That is why the bombing of the UN convoy a few weeks ago was an act of barbarism. The 13.5 million people who remain in Syria are in need of critical humanitarian assistance. Our sum of €62 million has gone directly towards providing aid in the region. It is channelled through a range of NGOs and support organisations, the United Nations, the International Red Cross and the Red Crescent. We will continue to monitor the situation closely. I am sure the generosity of the Irish people is such that further aid will be forthcoming in the event of it being required.

A key aspect on which we have not touched in dealing with the humanitarian crisis is the increase in the number of Syrian refugees relocating and resettling here. Today my colleague, Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, organised a briefing in the AV room with the Irish Refugee Council which is concerned that Ireland is not doing enough to assist refugees. In the past two weeks we have debated the difficulties several times and that the system does not seem to be working in the case of refugees coming to Ireland. Will the Minister confirm that the target is still 4,000 and detail how the Government will rapidly increase the relocation of refugees to Ireland? I made the point today that it was important we were informed as public representatives and that the people we represented were informed of where the people in question would go, how they would be supported and how they would live and that they would not be stuck in direct provision centres for three, five or ten years, which is what some families have been put through. It is about looking outside the box to try to redouble our efforts to help the people concerned.

The House is aware that last September the Government agreed to accept the total sum of 4,000 asylum seekers and refugees.

We have now resettled 500 refugees under the Irish refugee protection programme. The target is 520 by the end of 2016 and I believe that figure will be reached. They have all come from Lebanon. The progress of the relocation has been slow, as it has been for all EU partners. To date, a total of 69 Syrians have come to Ireland from Greece and a further 41 are due to arrive this week. It is important that we continue to do all we can to ensure we meet the total of 4,000 at the earliest opportunity.

It is also important that Ireland play its part in humanitarian aid provision. The €62 million in assistance for Syria continues to be put to good use in alleviating the hardship and suffering for many of the people afflicted in Aleppo and saving lives. The funding underlines Ireland's commitment to responding to the humanitarian crisis in Syria and neighbouring countries faced by millions of the most vulnerable Syrians, including refugees internally displaced and their host communities. Irish Aid support for NGOs on the ground includes support for the protection, health and education of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, with a focus on gender-based violence a priority.

We had the opportunity to discuss the issue last week in the House and at a specially convened meeting of the foreign affairs committee. I would be happy to engage further with Members and the Business Committee as they consider appropriate.

I welcome the Minister's comprehensive reply detailing both the humanitarian response from Ireland's perspective and the multilateral political engagement at the United Nations. Ireland has, through its taxpayers, significantly invested in alleviating the humanitarian crisis since 2012. The Minister referenced the figure of €62 million committed so far. We had a debate on this issue last week and there was supposed to be a ceasefire last weekend. The United Nations had been hoping to use it to evacuate seriously wounded people and deliver aid, but that does not appear to have happened. Has the Minister given consideration to the fact that no aid has been delivered in Aleppo since 7 July? The UN Secretary General said food would run out, possibly by the end of this month. What is the Minister's view on this stark fact? What Srebrenica was to the 1990s, Aleppo is to the 2010s and the western world, in particular, the United States and others actors in the field, despite their best efforts from a humanitarian aid point of view, need to up their game in terms of political engagement

The United Nations continues to work hard to negotiate access to besieged areas, as referred to by the Deputy. I acknowledge his role while Minister of State in the past few years. He played an important role in ensuring the provision of humanitarian aid was always top of the political agenda in this country.

I strongly support the efforts of humanitarian aid co-ordinator, Mr. Jacob El Hillo, and Mr. Jan Egeland, the senior adviser to the UN special envoy in Syria with responsibility for humanitarian affairs. I share their profound disappointment that food convoys, including baby food, have been prevented by soldiers of the Assad regime from reaching besieged people. In addition to supporting UN efforts, Ireland provides support for a number of organisations which have played an important role alongside the United Nations in negotiating access for convoys to besieged areas. For example, Ireland provided a total of €1.75 million last year to support the work in Syria of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian-Arab Red Crescent. It also provides significant support through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for the World Food Programme, WFP, which has experimented with air drops, notably in the Deir ez-Zor area which is besieged by Daesh. Air drops are, however, slow and resource intensive. It took the WFP six weeks to drop in Deir ez-Zor the volume of food one road convoy could have delivered. That is why we totally condemn, as I am sure every right thinking person in this House and beyond will, an attack by terrorists on a UN food convoy. For all of these reasons, air drops are not the easiest of solutions. Humanitarian organisations continue to seek other ways of gaining access to besieged areas, but I assure the House that Ireland continues to play its part through its NGOs under the leadership of the United Nations to ensure our aid can reach those most in need of help in this tragic situation.

I implore the Minister to use his good offices and whatever influence he has through the EU External Affairs Service to encourage the Arab world in its response to this crisis from a purely humanitarian aid point of view because notwithstanding the efforts of the western world in the Middle East and everything that is going on there, there is a responsibility on the Arab world to meet the humanitarian needs of people within the region.

I very much agree. During the summer when I had the opportunity to meet the incoming Secretary General of the Arab League, I referred to the situation in Syria and the point raised by the Deputy. I have no doubt that the only viable and sustainable way forward remains a comprehensive end to the violence and a Syrian-led political resolution based on a real political transition process. That remains my objective and that of the European Union and it is reflected in the conclusions reached last Monday at the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg. Clearly, all available options must be on the table. As I informed the House in my address last week, it is a source of the gravest concern for me that a permanent member of the Security Council, with a duty to the United Nations to uphold international law and the principles of the UN Charter, could condone or engage in the bombardment of Aleppo which, in many respects, amounts to a war crime. I utterly condemn the actions in Aleppo of the Assad regime and its allies, including Russia, and demand the immediate end to the bombardment of that city, the ending of the siege of eastern Aleppo and the lifting of all restrictions on humanitarian assistance in Aleppo and across Syria.

I take it we have dealt with Question No. 25. We move on to Question No. 26.

Question No. 25 replied to with Written Answers.
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