Lavrov Points To Violations Of International Humanitarian Law At Syria Donors Conference

The fifth EU-UN donor conference for Syria, which Brussels hosted earlier this week, was held with violations of the international humanitarian law, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st March, 2021) The fifth EU-UN donor conference for Syria, which Brussels hosted earlier this week, was held with violations of the international humanitarian law, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

The conference, which was held without the participation of official Damascus, raised a total of $6.4 billion in pledges.

"At the conference, which the European Union holds jointly with the United Nations, [UN Secretary-General] Antonio Guterres delivered a speech outlining the approaches. He said the right things. But I do not quite understand why the UN did not send any representatives to the conference that was dedicated to returning refugees, apart from a monitor.

And the Brussels conference � which focused on raising funds primarily for assisting refugees' staying in camps across Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, and on assisting people staying in areas that are not controlled by the Syrian government � was initially convened with gross violations of the international humanitarian law, under which such issues should be settled through direct contact with the government of the country. These are double standards," Lavrov said at the middle East Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club.