A Syrian Red Crescent truck, part of a convoy carrying humanitarian aid, is seen in Kafr Batna on the outskirts of Damascus on Feb. 23, 2016, during an operation in cooperation with the U.N. to deliver aid to thousands of besieged Syrians. (photo: Abd Doumany/Getty)
US and
EU Sanctions Are Punishing Ordinary Syrians and Crippling Aid Work, UN Report
Reveals
By Rania Khalek, The
Intercept
28 September 16
Internal
United Nations assessments obtained by The Intercept reveal that U.S. and
European sanctions are punishing ordinary Syrians and crippling aid work during
the largest humanitarian emergency since World War II.
The
sanctions and war have destabilized every sector of Syria’s economy,
transforming a once self-sufficient country into an aid-dependent nation. But
aid is hard to come by, with sanctions blocking access to blood safety equipment,
medicines, medical devices, food, fuel, water pumps, spare parts for power
plants, and more.
In a
40-page internal assessment commissioned
to analyze the humanitarian impact of the sanctions, the U.N. describes the
U.S. and EU measures as “some of the most complicated and far-reaching
sanctions regimes ever imposed.” Detailing a complex system of “unpredictable
and time-consuming” financial restrictions and licensing requirements, the
report finds that U.S. sanctions are exceptionally harsh “regarding provision
of humanitarian aid.”
U.S.
sanctions on Syrian banks have made the transfer of funds into the country
nearly impossible. Even when a transaction is legal, banks are reluctant to
process funds related to Syria for risk of incurring violation fees. This has
given rise to an unofficial and unregulated network of money exchanges that
lacks transparency, making it easier for extremist groups like ISIS and al
Qaeda to divert funds undetected. The difficulty of transferring money is also
preventing aid groups from paying local staff and suppliers, which has “delayed
or prevented the delivery of development assistance in both government and
besieged areas,” according to the report.
Trade
restrictions on Syria are even more convoluted. Items that contain 10 percent
or more of U.S. content, including medical devices, are banned from export to
Syria. Aid groups wishing to bypass this rule have to apply for a special
license, but the licensing bureaucracy is a nightmare to navigate, often
requiring expensive lawyers that cost far more than the items being exported.
Syria
was first subjected to sanctions in
1979, after the U.S. designated the Syrian government as a state sponsor of
terrorism. More sanctions were added in subsequent years, though none more
extreme than the restrictions imposed in 2011 in response to the Syrian
government’s deadly crackdown on protesters.
In
2013 the sanctions were eased but only in opposition areas.
Around the same time, the CIA began directly shipping weapons to armed
insurgents at a colossal cost of nearly $1 billion a year,
effectively adding fuel to the conflict while U.S. sanctions obstructed
emergency assistance to civilians caught in the crossfire.
An
internal U.N. email obtained by The Intercept also faults U.S. and EU sanctions
for contributing to food shortages and deteriorations in health care. The
August email from a key U.N. official warned that sanctions had contributed to
a doubling in fuel prices in 18 months and a 40 percent drop in wheat
production since 2010, causing the price of wheat flour to soar by 300 percent
and rice by 650 percent. The email went on to cite sanctions as a “principal
factor” in the erosion of Syria’s health care system. Medicine-producing
factories that haven’t been completely destroyed by the fighting have been
forced to close because of sanctions-related restrictions on raw materials and
foreign currency, the email said.
As one
NGO worker in Damascus told The Intercept, there are cars, buses, water
systems, and power stations that are in serious need of repair all across the
country, but it takes months to procure spare parts and there’s no time to
wait. So aid groups opt for cheap Chinese options or big suppliers that have
the proper licensing, but the big suppliers can charge as much as they want. If
the price is unaffordable, systems break down and more and more people die from
dirty water, preventable diseases, and a reduced quality of life.
Such
conditions would be devastating for any country. In war-torn Syria, where an
estimated 13 million people are dependent on humanitarian assistance, the
sanctions are compounding the chaos.
In an
emailed statement to The Intercept, the State Department denied that the
sanctions are hurting civilians.
“U.S.
sanctions against [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad], his backers, and the
regime deprive these actors of resources that could be used to further the
bloody campaign Assad continues to wage against his own people,” said the
statement, which recycled talking points that justified sanctions against Iraq
in 1990s. The U.S. continued to rationalize the Iraq sanctions even after
a report was released by
UNICEF in 1999 that showed a doubling in mortality rates for children under the
age of 5 after sanctions were imposed in the wake of the Gulf War, and the
death of 500,000 children.
“The
true responsibility for the dire humanitarian situation lies squarely with
Assad, who has repeatedly denied access and attacked aid workers,” the U.S.
statement on Syria continued. “He has the ability to relieve this suffering at
any time, should he meet his commitment to provide full, sustained access for
delivery of humanitarian assistance in areas that the U.N. has determined need
it.”
Meanwhile,
in cities controlled by ISIS, the U.S. has employed some of the same tactics it
condemns. For example, U.S.-backed ground forces laid siege to Manbij,
a city in northern Syria not far from Aleppo that is home to tens of thousands
of civilians. U.S. airstrikes pounded the city over the summer, killing up to 125 civilians in
a single attack. The U.S. replicated this strategy to drive ISIS out of Kobane, Ramadi, and Fallujah, leaving
behind flattened neighborhoods. In
Fallujah, residents resorted to eating soup made from grass and 140
people reportedly died from
lack of food and medicine during the siege.
Humanitarian
concerns aside, the sanctions are not achieving their objectives. Five years of
devastating civil war and strict economic sanctions have plunged over 80 percent of Syrians into poverty, up
from 28 percent in 2010. Ferdinand Arslanian, a scholar at the Center for
Syrian Studies at the University of St. Andrews, says that reduction in living
standards and aid dependency is empowering the regime.
“Aid
is now an essential part of the Syrian economy and sanctions give regime
cronies in Syria the ability to monopolize access to goods. It makes everyone
reliant on the government. This was the case in Iraq, with the food-for-oil
system,” explained Arslanian.
“Sanctions
have a terrible effect on the people more than the regime and Washington knows
this from Iraq,” argues Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East
Studies at the University of Oklahoma. “But there’s pressure in Washington to
do something and sanctions look like you’re doing something,” he added.
Despite
the failure of sanctions, opposition advocates are agitating for even harsher measures that
would extend sanctions to anyone who does business with the Syrian government.
This, of course, would translate into sanctions against Russia.
“The
opposition likes sanctions,” says Landis. “They were the people who advocated
them in the beginning because they want to put any pressure they can on the
regime. But it’s very clear that the regime is not going to fall, that the
sanctions are not working. They’re only immiserating a population that’s already
suffered terrible declines in their per capita GDP,” he added.
Read
the report:
C 2015
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