AZJoe
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How Washington’s Sanctions on Syria are Impoverishing and Killing Ordinary People
UN Report: US/EU Sanctions Punishing Ordinary Syrians And Crippling Aid Work
https://theintercept.com/2016/09/28...ns-and-crippling-aid-work-u-n-report-reveals/
UNITED NATIONS assessments … reveal that U.S. and European sanctions are punishing ordinary Syrians and crippling aid work … The sanctions and war have destabilized every sector of Syria’s economy … 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 … the U.N. describes the U.S. and EU measures as “some of the most complicated and far-reaching sanctions regimes ever imposed.” … a complex system of “unpredictable and time-consuming” financial restrictions and licensing requirements … 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 … 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 … Aid groups wishing to bypass this rule have to apply for a special license, but the licensing bureaucracy is a nightmare to navigate …
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 …
An internal U.N. email … also faults U.S. and EU sanctions for contributing to food shortages and deteriorations in health care. … sanctions had contributed to a doubling in fuel prices … a 40 percent drop in wheat production … the price of wheat flour to soar by 300 percent and rice by 650 percent…. cite sanctions as a “principal factor” in the erosion of Syria’s health care system …
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. …
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 … 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 … [in] 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 … 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 … the sanctions are not working. They’re only immiserating a population that’s already suffered terrible declines in their per capita GDP,” …
UN Report: US/EU Sanctions Punishing Ordinary Syrians And Crippling Aid Work
https://theintercept.com/2016/09/28...ns-and-crippling-aid-work-u-n-report-reveals/
UNITED NATIONS assessments … reveal that U.S. and European sanctions are punishing ordinary Syrians and crippling aid work … The sanctions and war have destabilized every sector of Syria’s economy … 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 … the U.N. describes the U.S. and EU measures as “some of the most complicated and far-reaching sanctions regimes ever imposed.” … a complex system of “unpredictable and time-consuming” financial restrictions and licensing requirements … 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 … 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 … Aid groups wishing to bypass this rule have to apply for a special license, but the licensing bureaucracy is a nightmare to navigate …
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 …
An internal U.N. email … also faults U.S. and EU sanctions for contributing to food shortages and deteriorations in health care. … sanctions had contributed to a doubling in fuel prices … a 40 percent drop in wheat production … the price of wheat flour to soar by 300 percent and rice by 650 percent…. cite sanctions as a “principal factor” in the erosion of Syria’s health care system …
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. …
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 … 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 … [in] 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 … 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 … the sanctions are not working. They’re only immiserating a population that’s already suffered terrible declines in their per capita GDP,” …
