Amid
World
Humanitarian
Day Glitz,
Typhoid in
Yarmouk Camp,
UNbesieged?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 18 --
When the UN
began its
photo op for
World
Humanitarian
Day on
Tuesday, it
was less than
an hour after
typhoid in the
Yarmouk camp
for
Palestinian
refugees in
Syria was
announced by
the UN Relief
and Works
Agency.
UNRWA's
announcement
called the
camp, which it
had not
visited since
June 8,
“besieged.”
But as Inner
City Press
reported last
month, at
least six
weeks into the
siege, the UN
Office for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs had
said that
Yarmouk was
and is NOT
besieged.
Inner City
Press went to
the photo op
to try to ask
why. OCHA
chief Stephen
O'Brien was
scheduled to
appear, and he
did: with
Malian singer
Inna Modja.
Inner City
Press said, as
O'Brien
manuevered for
the photo op,
So Yarmouk is
in the
news. Periscope
video for now
here.
“So I gather,”
O'Brien said,
politely. Then
he was on the
blue carpet,
soon to be
followed by
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon,
Australia's
Cody Simpson
and Colombia's
Juanes. “Cody!
Cody!”
photographers
called out.
Spanish
language
television
crews
interviewed
Juanes as a UN
Facilities
Management
Service
staffer took
selfies behind
them. It was,
it seemed, a
warm up for UN
General
Assembly week.
So's this.
Background:
The Yarmouk
camp for
Palestinian
refugees in
Damascus,
which the UN
ruled is not
besieged, now
has typhoid in
it, UNRWA
announced on
August 18
saying it had
accessed the
camp for the
first time
since June 8.
UNRWA
spokesman,
Chris Gunness
said, in a
statement
emailed to the
press: "UNRWA
has had its
first access
to civilians
from the
besieged
Palestinian
refugee camp
of Yarmouk,
Damascus,
since 8th
June. We
can now
confirm a
typhoid
outbreak among
this UN
assisted
population
with at least
six confirmed
cases. Never
has the
imperative for
sustained
humanitarian
access been
greater.
UNRWA’s
priority
remains the
delivery of
humanitarian
aid to
civilians
within Yarmouk
itself and
reiterates its
strong demand
for respect
and compliance
with
obligations to
protect
civilians and
to establish
secure
conditions
under which
UNRWA can
deliver
life-saving
humanitarian
assistance.”
If UNRWA could
not access the
Yarmouk camp
since June 8 -
that is, for
two months and
ten days, why
would the UN
have declassified
the Yarmouk
camp in Syria
from being
"besieged,"
after calling
it just that
in April? On
July 24 Inner
City Press
asked at the
UN noon
briefing and
was told that
the UN Office
for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs
remains
concerned
about Yarmouk.
Video
here.
So on July 28
when OCHA
chief Stephen
O'Brien took
questions
about Syria,
Inner City
Press asked
him about OCHA
saying that
Yarmouk is no
longer
besieged.
Video here.
O'Brien said
that aid has
been getting
into three
neighboring
areas,
including
which those
from Yarmouk
are able to go
back and
forth.
Responding to
the question
was
appreciated -
but the UN
Spokesperson's
Office seemed
to tell Inner
City Press
that even the
surrounding
areas had not
been accessed
since June 7.
One month,
three weeks.
That's not
besieged?
According
to IRIN,
"The final
decision on
the status of
the camp,
however, is
made not by
UNRWA but by
the UN
secretary-general
on the advice
of the Office
for the
Coordination
of
Humanitarian
Affairs." We
aim to have
more on this.
Back
on April 6
amid news that
ISIS has taken
over most of
the UN's
Yarmouk camp
for
Palestinian
refugees in
Syria, the UN
Security
Council
scheduled an
urgent meeting
on April 6 at
11:30 am, to
get a briefing
by video from
Pierre
Krähenbühl,
the
Commissioner
General of the
United Nations
Relief and
Works Agency
for Palestine
Refugees in
the Near East,
UNRWA.
Inner City
Press arrived
early, and saw
going into the
Council the
UN's head of
Political
Affairs,
Jeffrey
Feltman. The
State of
Palestine's
Permanent
Observer to
the UN Riyad
Mansour spoke
outside the
Security
Council,
saying “we are
concerned
about the
safety and
well-being of
our
people,
About 2000
were able to
run to safety
away from the
camp on their
own. We hope
that the
Security
Council will
adopt a
position to
secure a
safety passage
through UN
agencies to
save and
protect the
16,000 now in
the refugee
camp and we
hope that all
countries will
help in
securing this
objective of
safety
passage,
security
passage and
for the
refugees to be
safe.”
Inner City
Press asked
Mansour
whether he
expects a
Security
Council
resolution on
the question
of Palestine
this month. He
answered -- video here -- always ready, but
that the key
is the
political will
to implement
such a
resolution. He
said that the
independence
of Palestine
would
eliminate
sixty to
seventy
percent of
extremist
recruitment in
the Middle
East.
Later, Inner
City Press
asked UNRWA's
Krähenbühl if
UNRWA is in
contact with
ISIS (no) and
who he thinks
might
influence
them. His
reply -- video
here --
cited the
“broad
spectrum”
including of
religious
leaders.
Inner
City Press
asked where
the displaced
refugees have
gone. He said
there are an
additional
44,000
Palestinian
refugees in
Lebanon, not
all from
Yarmouk.
Overall, he
said that of
560,000
Palestinians
in Syria
before, now
460 to 470,000
remain, with
half of them
having been
displaced.
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