Humanitarian doctor, journalist and film-maker, Saleyha Ahsanhas worked in many roles to assist people affected by war and disaster in the Middle East. But as the Syrian Civil Warbecomes more volatile and dangerous by the day, she worries that failings by the UN and other diplomatic bodies are making it impossible for aid workers to help those who need them most.
Saleyha’s story is an incredible one. Born in Essex, she was the first British Muslim woman to gain a place at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst on the Officer Commissioning Course. She became a British Army officer, served in Bosnia as a Medical Support Officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps and then decided to retrain as a doctor. She spent time in Libya during the revolution in 2011 and worked as a humanitarian responder in a bloody conflict – one that she feels is very different to the situation in Syria and Iraq today, particularly in East Aleppo.
Saleyha describes the failings of the international community in vivid terms:
“Firstly, the international community needs to negotiate safe access for humanitarian aid workers to the people who need it most.
“We have international humanitarian law instruments to protect people who are delivering aid and healthcare in times of war, but at the moment they mean nothing because they aren’t being respected or upheld. We can’t get in. From NGOs that I know who are working inside Syria, I have been told categorically that anything that moves gets hit by the Russians.
“One charity told me that there are Russian drones flying around, looking for, and striking, anything that moves. Everything is being watched meticulously.
“There is a massive amount that needs to be done diplomatically to negotiate access. What is being done at the moment is nowhere near enough. Why aren’t the people in positions of power looking as haggard and knackered as the people on the ground in Syria? Why aren’t they working their backsides off to sort this? Why are they not doing what they are paid to do?
“This falls on their shoulders. No-one else can negotiate at that level and get Russia to stop doing what they’re doing. Why has Ban-Ki Moon been attending social and celebratory events when he should have been sorting out the biggest humanitarian disaster of our time? This is serious and I don’t feel that they’re doing enough, with the exception of Matthew Rycroft, the Permanent Representative to the UN, and the United Kingdom’s Mission to the United Nations, whose hard work has not been replicated by representatives of other countries. Matthew Rycroft has rightly condemned the actions of the Syrian government and Russia as ‘sick bloodlust’ and accused them of ‘unleashing a new hell on Aleppo’.
“Let’s push for no-fly zones, no-bombing zones. We’ve had a UN resolution and Russia and Syria have breached it. We’ve had a UN resolution on humanitarian aid, which we waited for ages for because Russia kept vetoing it. How can you veto a UN resolution on humanitarian aid? It’s crazy!
