President Barroso defends unrestricted and unconditional humanitarian access in Syria in summit with Russia

European Commission

MEMO

Brussels, 5 June 2013

President Barroso defends unrestricted and unconditional humanitarian access in Syria in summit with Russia

At the EU-Russia Summit, President Barroso said:

"The European Commission is a major donor of humanitarian aid to the Syrian crisis. Indeed the European Union, Commission plus Member States, are by far the biggest donor of humanitarian aid to the refugees coming from Syria with around 800 million euros.

Just some days ago I received the major international organisations in humanitarian aid from the United Nations: the High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme. And a point I underline independently from the broader concerns of political and security nature, is the need to immediately guarantee unrestricted and unconditional access to the victims. And this is an appeal that the international community has to make clear both to the government and to the opposition parties there, because the situation is really dramatic.

We have received a full debriefing of the situation. It is really an humanitarian catastrophe what is going on in Syria and of course we expect further results.

I believe that now, all of us with the channels we have, should convey this message to the parties in conflict of unrestricted, unconditional access to humanitarian aid because what's going on in Syria today, is indeed a stain in mankind's conscience.

بيان صحفي من المفوضية الأوروبية حول مطالبة رئيس المفوضية باروسو في القمة الأوروبية الروسية بوصول إنساني غير مقيد إلى سورية، ويؤكد أن الاتحاد أكبر مانحي المساعدات للاجئين السوريين.