UN works 'within parameters of international law'

DW: Several aid groups are concerned that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has an influence on the United Nations and have announced that they will suspend cooperation with you. What is your reaction?

Jens Laerke: They have decided for the time being not to participate in the regular information sharing that we use to plan the humanitarian programs in 2017. It does not mean they have stopped cooperation with the UN altogether - far from it. They're still part of our regular coordination mechanisms. The projects we have funded until now continue. There's nobody in need in Syria who we'd have otherwise been able to reach who won't be reached now.

What exactly is this mechanism that they're pulling out of?

OCHA (the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) is offering this information-sharing mechanism as a service in any crisis anywhere in the world. It's one of the core things that we do. We make sure that the very many humanitarian organizations involved in a response to a crisis at the level of Syria have a platform on which they can share their information. It's important that information is shared and doesn't just stay with one group. It could be information about where people in need are, what kind of needs they have, how to best reach them in a remote village, and so on.

If one organization goes there, they can assess whether people need food, shelter, perhaps vaccinations for their children or medical care. Then these facts can be shared with different organizations that specialize in various kinds of humanitarian aid and all of them can come together to provide a full package of aid.

What these organizations are withdrawing from is the long-term preparatory work we do via this information-sharing platform. When we lodge our yearly humanitarian appeals, they are based on what we call a humanitarian needs overview. It's a planning tool for the year to come, a document that assures there is a common strategy so we're all on the same page about what needs to be done. It is also a document that we can give to the various humanitarian donors - governments, enterprises, private sector - who want to help us do what it is we do.

What effects do you expect from this step?

In the short term, it should not have any influence on the delivery of aid via programs that are currently ongoing. How it effects our work in the long term remains to be seen. If you read the letter, you'll see that they don't say "We withdraw," but that they'll suspend cooperation. That's understood to mean for a limited period of time, for right now. We will look into their criticism - after all, these are extremely important, courageous partners for the UN who are at the front end of delivering aid inside Syria - and we hope that in the days and weeks ahead, when we discuss this with them, they will change their minds.

How does the Assad regime influence UN aid? How do you do your work in Syria?

We work in a completely impartial way where we deliver aid. That means we base our program on people's needs alone, not on where they live or which side of the conflict they may sympathize with. That principle is nonnegotiable in humanitarian affairs - and it's nonnegotiable in Syria, as well.

Now, UN aid is not controlled by the Syrian government. But we have to operate within the parameters of international law. When there is a UN aid operation in a country, we have to work through and in collaboration with all parties on the ground - including of course the still internationally recognized government of the country. We cannot just send UN agencies into a country without having a visa in our passport that says we have legal access to go into that country.

Jens Laerke is a spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. He is based in Geneva.