The recent report released by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) sheds light on the state of humanitarian aid delivery mechanisms in areas controlled by the Syrian regime. The report, titled “The Syrian Red Crescent and the Syrian Development Trust are the Syrian regime’s tools for plundering humanitarian aid,” highlights the need for alternative methods to ensure aid reaches the intended beneficiaries.
The document outlines how the Assad regime, under the leadership of Bashar al-Assad, has co-opted NGOs, such as the Syrian Red Crescent and the Syrian Development Trust, to serve its own interests. By exerting control over the appointment of administrators and maintaining influence over these organizations, the regime has effectively turned them into instruments for siphoning off humanitarian aid and consolidating its power.
The Syrian Red Crescent and the Syrian Development Trust have been utilized by the regime as conduits for receiving aid funds, exploiting their perceived reliability and international support to channel resources into its coffers. The report details how the regime has manipulated these organizations to control relief efforts, monopolize international support, and divert funds for its benefit.
Furthermore, the report exposes the regime’s tactics of suppressing dissent within these organizations, including arbitrary dismissals, arrests, and even targeted violence against volunteers and employees. This pattern of control and intimidation has undermined the impartiality and transparency that should characterize humanitarian work, leading to widespread corruption and nepotism within these organizations.
The Syrian Trust for Development, spearheaded by Asma al-Assad, has similarly been implicated in serving the regime’s agenda, using humanitarian aid as a means to support the war effort, reward loyalists, and project a favorable image of the regime both domestically and internationally. The report highlights the organization’s complicity in integrating aid into the war economy and favoring regime loyalists while lacking transparency regarding its financial activities.
The report’s findings underscore the urgent need for reform in the delivery of humanitarian aid to Syria. It calls on donor countries to ensure that aid reaches those in need, irrespective of political affiliations, and to impose effective oversight mechanisms on funded projects. Additionally, the report urges the international community to condemn the regime’s exploitation of humanitarian aid and to impose sanctions for violating international humanitarian law.
The SNHR highlights the corruption and challenges facing humanitarian aid delivery in Assad-controlled Syria and calls for concerted international action to address the systemic abuses and ensure that aid reaches those most in need, free from political manipulation and exploitation.
