Brussels, 13/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Monday 12 October, the 28 EU foreign ministers discussed the alarming humanitarian situation in Syria, where 12 million people - in other words, over half the population - are in need of urgent humanitarian aid, without including the 4 million refugees being hosted by Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
The EU foreign ministers stated their readiness to expand their help and to step up humanitarian diplomacy in order to increase humanitarian access and promote the principles of international humanitarian law - but the issue of setting up safe zones is not on the agenda.
In its conclusions, the Council states that the protection of civilians must be a priority for the international community, and it condemns the “the excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks that the Syrian regime continues to commit against its own people”. Stating that the Assad regime bears the greatest responsibility for the 250,000 deaths of the conflict and the millions of displaced people, the EU recalls that “international humanitarian law applies to all parties, and human rights need to be fully respected”. It calls on all parties to stop all forms of indiscriminate shelling and bombardment against civilian areas and structures such as hospitals and schools and, in particular, it calls on the Syrian regime “to cease all aerial bombardments, including the use of barrel bombs”.
The EU says it is ready to increase its humanitarian aid, its longer term development assistance and stabilisation assistance, but the Council does not mention the demand to set up safe zones - which Turkey wants.
“We are determined to increase the level of our humanitarian assistance inside Syria because the situation on the ground is moving fast and the idea of somehow creating safe zones exactly in the area where Da'esh is concentrated and the Russian military presence is concentrated might not be an easy task to achieve at the moment. It's one thing to increase humanitarian aid inside Syria. It's another to imagine that we or anyone can create humanitarian zones free from risks and from the presence of Da'esh and other terrorist groups right when terrorist and military activities are very intense”, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said at the end of the session.
The EU is the leading donor in response to the Syria crisis, with more than €4.2 billion mobilised by the European Commission and EU member states collectively in humanitarian, development, economic and stabilisation assistance inside Syria and to the Syrian refugees and their host communities in neighbouring states. The Madad trust fund for Syria now has €500 million. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)