A total of 73 aid groups, including the Syrian Civil Defense, which operates in Syria's opposition-held territory, and the Syrian American Medical Society, accused some UN agencies of shaping their decisions in accordance with the political will of the Syrian government and allowing it to interfere in the delivery of aid by inter-agency convoys, The Guardian newspaper reported, citing a joint letter written by the alliance.
"The Syrian government has interfered with the delivery of humanitarian assistance in multiple instances, including the blocking of aid to besieged areas, the removal of medical aid from inter-agency convoys, the disregard for needs assessments and information coming from humanitarian actors in Syria, and the marginalisation of other humanitarian actors in the critical planning phases of crisis response," the joint letter said, as quoted by the publication.
"We have been cooperating with OCHA, but we would add our points and OCHA Damascus would remove them…As a result, when you talk about besieged areas or medical evacuations, they aren’t doing their job…We lost confidence in the way they operate and would like to see major changes to the way they work on the Syrian response," Fadi Dairi, a representative of the NGO alliance, told the newspaper.
The move comes just over a week after The Guardian revealed contracts worth millions of dollars signed between the United Nations and figures close to Syrian President Bashar Assad. The United Nations dismissed any accusations, stressing that it can only work with partners approved by the Syrian government.
