As stated in our original story, UNHCR has no presence in the IDP camps in northern Syria. The refugee camps inside Syria’s northern borders are run by war profiteers who play NGOs one against the other in order to control aid.
In addition, UNHCR’s reluctance to engage its considerable experience and expertise in managing the IDP camps and addressing protection issues has left NGOs to address serious problems in a haphazard manner through no fault of their own.
Unfortunately windows of opportunity to gain access at least relatively safely have been squandered by UN humanitarian agencies. The result is that IDPs are living far below established humanitarian standards.
There is also a deeply concerning lack of information regarding the location and movement of IDPs as well as the abuses they endure in the camps.
UNHCR does maintain a minimal presence in some cities such as Aleppo; but due to intense concern about threats to security, contact with IDPs is concentrated in regime-held areas.
There is also no protection staff in the field in northern Syria. UN agencies, concerned about angering the Syrian government, failed to establish a presence in the field or ensure regular delivery of humanitarian assistance despite UN resolutions that demanded unimpeded access.
In fact, humanitarian access has decreased significantly since the UN Security Council’s demands that the regime permit cross-border and cross-line aid which is very much in keeping with Assad’s arrogant persistence in doing exactly the opposite of what he has been told.
UNICEF has also been missing in action. “Instead of helping the situation, UNICEF blocked efforts by NGOs to get educational and other supplies across the border during a crucial window of opportunity and had only one staff member working on cross-border issues in Turkey."
"There comes a time," the Orient source said, "when more harm than good is done by creating a pretense of full engagement, when the denials by the regime for access overwhelmingly exceed permissions--permission that is not required according to the Security Council.”
Recent reports that the UN permits the watering down of its reports by the Assad regime also reveal the extent to which the UN has been co-opted.
This is nothing new according to Orient’s source who analyzed reports as far back as 2013 that obfuscated the crimes of the regime and included edits made by the government.
“We should be shouting from the rooftops about our failures,” the source said in obvious frustration, "not publicizing the very occasional success of gaining access to places like Madaya. In fact, these stories cover up the ongoing futility of negotiations. The only party being served by allowing the pretense of a working international system is the Assad regime.”
“The UN has taken a huge step backwards since the reforms related to protection of civilians established after the Balkans wars and the tragedy of Rwanda."
With no meaningful presence on the ground in Syria, the UN’s efforts in Turkey are disconnected from the reality of the suffering of the Syrian people and humanitarian business is often conducted without the urgency, empathy or compassion that UNHCR has demonstrated in conflicts in other parts of the world.
To exacerbate the situation, there has been very little effective monitoring of protection concerns. In fact, UNHCR blocked efforts to get a real monitoring system underway.
“UNHCR policy comes from its headquarters in Geneva,” according to Orient’s source.
"While it is recognized that humanitarians are always reticent to leave, IDPs in Syria would be better served if UNHCR and UNICEF were to withdraw; a drastic act that would force the Security Council to step in and deal with the multitude of atrocities and crimes against humanity that are being committed by the Assad regime."
The Security Council is obligated to act upon the violations of international humanitarian law by the Assad regime and others, but given the status of Syria as a UN member state, its obligation to protect its own citizens is paramount under the law. Customary International humanitarian law prohibits the use of indiscriminate weapons like barrel bombs, the use of torture, enforced disappearance and summary execution, all of which are perpetrated by the regime on a daily basis.
To date, Assad and all others violating international law have enjoyed complete impunity.
We continue to reiterate that “By allowing Assad to call the shots, “all the progress made by the Security Council in the 90s, the huge advances we saw in their efforts to promote world peace, all that has been undone. The Security Council is broken, and UNHCR has utterly failed in fulfilling its mandate to protect."
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