G7 condemns politicization of aid in Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Thursday, the G7 countries condemned the politicization of obtaining and distributing aid in Syria, calling urgently for the re-authorization of humanitarian aid through Syria’s border crossings.
The G7, set up in 1976, is an informal grouping of seven of the world’s most advanced economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, in addition to representatives from the European Union.
The G7 Foreign Ministers met in London on Tuesday, in the first face-to-face G7 meeting in two years.
The group condemned the ongoing atrocities committed by the Assad regime and its backers against the Syrian people, and the attempts to impede the regular and sustainable ability to send humanitarian to Syria.
It has estimated the total number of people in need of humanitarian aid in Syria at 13 million, after ten years of war.
The ministers urged “all parties, especially the regime, to participate actively in the comprehensive political process that the United Nations is working to facilitate the way for, in an effort to settle the conflict, especially the Constitutional Committee, which includes the release of detainees and the true participation of women.”
The G7 linked cooperation in the reconstruction of Syria to a “credible and well-established political process.”
The G7 welcomed the decision of the Conference of the Member States of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to suspend the Syria’s right under under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and urged the Syrian government to abide by its obligations under Security Council Resolution 2118.
In mid-April, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) released the results of the second report of its Investigative Team (IIT) tasked with identifying those who have used chemical weapons in Syria.
The report identified the Syrian government as the user of chemical weapons on the city of Saraqib, east Idlib on February 4, 2018.