PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Syria: Coronavirus (10 March 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2021 to Question 138856 on Syria: Coronavirus, what (a) assessment he has made of the role of cross-border aid mechanisms in the delivery of the covid-19 vaccine and (b) discussions he (i) has had and (ii) plans to have with his international counterparts on the reauthorisation of cross-border aid mechanisms in July 2021 to enable the distribution of the covid-19 vaccine in Syria.

Asked by:
Anna McMorrin (Labour)

To date the UK has committed £548 million to COVAX, to ensure global access to vaccines, and has consistently called other donors to step up their support. Alongside this, the UK is clear that humanitarian partners must have unfettered access to distribute COVID-19 vaccines across the whole of Syria. Cross-border aid mechanisms are critical to ensuring the successful delivery of vaccines to hard-to-reach populations such as north-west Syria where over 2.7 million people remain displaced. Operations from Turkey will distribute over 330,000 vaccines to those most vulnerable.

The UK regularly raises the issue of UN-mandated cross-border access, including most recently on 02 March with Russian authorities, who have twice used their veto to unfairly reduce humanitarian aid access into Syria. The UK also continues to use its position at the UN Security Council and in bilateral discussions to push for greater aid access into Syria and to urge renewal of Resolution 2533. This approach is informed by regular Ministerial and Official consultation with International partners, UN agencies, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock, human rights and non-governmental organisations and others, We strongly support the renewal of UNSCR 2533 and are urging members of the UN Security Council to vote in favour of renewing the resolution to avoid further humanitarian disaster.

Answered by:
Sir James Cleverly (Conservative)
15 March 2021