Sanctions on Syria
Authors: Peter Ford
Journal: The Lancet Global Health (2020)

The Comment by Hamid Yahiya Hussain and Kasturi Sen (September, 2020)1Hussain HY Sen K EU guidance impedes humanitarian action to prevent COVID-19 in Syria.Lancet Glob Health. 2020; 8: e1112-e1113Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (8) Google Scholar rightly drew attention to the damage being inflicted on Syria by EU and US sanctions. However, by concentrating on the impact of sanctions on humanitarian interventions, their Comment did not illustrate the full extent of that damage. A decade of war and sanctions has already left the Syrian economy weakened, and restrictions on economic activity aimed at reducing the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are increasing hardship in the country, particularly for those most vulnerable. In particular, the price of food has increased substantially. A basic food basket costs more than double what it did a year ago.2Syria - Review on the impact of rising food prices, Food Security Update March 2020. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, March 2020https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/syria-review-impact-rising-food-prices-food-security-update-march-2020#:~:text=Food%20prices%20in%20Syria%20increased,food%20items%20have%20also%20increasedDate accessed: September 16, 2020Google Scholar 8% of Syrians were unemployed in 2019. That the EU should at this juncture discreetly renew sanctions and the USA brazenly introduce new drastic sanctions under the Caesar Act show a callousness similar to that seen in the sanctions on Iraq in the run-up to the Iraq war.3Ali MM Shah IH Sanctions and childhood mortality in Iraq.Lancet. 2000; 355: 1851-1857Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (121) Google Scholar Not only do sanctions hamper delivery of medicines and equipment, as the Comment by Hussain and Sen highlights,1Hussain HY Sen K EU guidance impedes humanitarian action to prevent COVID-19 in Syria.Lancet Glob Health. 2020; 8: e1112-e1113Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (8) Google Scholar but the situation is more grave than that. Sanctions have decimated Syria's once thriving pharmaceutical industry by making it near impossible for companies to obtain raw materials, mainly because of financial sanctions that deter suppliers and increase costs exponentially.4Ghisn Z How economic sanctions negatively affect the health sector in Syria: a case study of the pharmaceutical industry. The London School of Economic and Polictical Science, LondonApril 16, 2020https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/crp/2020/04/16/how-economic-sanctions-negatively-affect-the-health-sector-in-syria-a-case-study-of-the-pharmaceutical-industry/Date accessed: September 16, 2020Google Scholar Food supply problems have been aggravated not only by sanctions but also by a virtual blockade by US forces that control the quarter of Syrian territory in the northeast of the country, which is the location of most of Syria's grain and oil resources.5El Dahan M Francis E Severe bread shortages loom for Syria as fresh U.S. sanctions grip. Reuters.https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-bread-analysis/severe-bread-shortages-loom-for-syria-as-fresh-u-s-sanctions-grip-idUSKBN24A1LK?il=0Date: July 9, 2020Date accessed: September 16, 2020Google Scholar The EU recently pledged €4·9 billion to Syria. However, the bulk of this money is not for Syria, but for neighbouring countries so that they can continue to hold millions of Syrian refugees that the EU does not wish to receive itself, and does not wish to see return to Syria under its current leadership. What would be far more helpful is if the EU and the USA stopped enforcing fresh sanctions and suspended all sanctions other than those that affect named individuals for a period of 6 months, followed by a review that would take into account the state of the pandemic and its effect on Syria. I am co-chair of the British Syrian Society and was UK Ambassador to Syria for 2003–06. EU guidance impedes humanitarian action to prevent COVID-19 in SyriaAt the Global Vaccine Summit on June 4, 2020, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for a united front from all nations. He described the need for a NATO-style alliance to defend humanity from the common enemy of COVID-19. This type of statement has become a familiar cry of multiple Western leaders. It is also a message that is undermined by the actions of many of those same politicians. Full-Text PDF Open AccessSanctions on SyriaHamid Yahiya Hussain and Kasturi Sen1 (September, 2020) present a biased perspective on the impact of EU and US sanction legislation in Syria. Western sanctions were introduced to promote accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Syrian conflict, the vast majority of which have been perpetrated by the Syrian Government and its allies against civilian populations.2 The implication that sanctions (including exemptions for humanitarian aid) have prevented the Syrian Government from responding to the COVID-19 pandemic is erroneous and does not reflect the widespread politicisation of humanitarian aid, nor the economic and humanitarian context. Full-Text PDF Open AccessResponding to the Türkiye–Syria earthquake: what will it take?"Such things have always happened. It's part of destiny's plan." The reaction of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Türkiye's President, to the devastating earthquakes that struck Türkiye and Syria on Feb 6, betrays a dangerous sense of fatalism, if not an active effort to deflect responsibility. As of Feb 14, the earthquakes have caused more than 35 000 deaths, and injured many more. As the chances of finding survivors under the rubble diminish, a second catastrophe is looming. The widespread destruction of buildings and infrastructure has left more than a million people homeless in Türkiye and displaced 5 million in Syria. Full-Text PDF