WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin Statement On Aleppo

ROME – For months, the world has watched as the cruelty of war has descended upon the people of Aleppo. As Aleppo and its people have suffered, so has our collective humanity. In recent days, WFP and its partners have provided food to thousands driven from their homes as conflict consumed Aleppo.

Yet this is scant solace to the nearly one million children, women and men across Syria who remain trapped from receiving food and vital support. WFP calls on the Syrian government and all parties involved in the conflict to allow immediate, safe and secure access to all areas across Syria, particularly those that remain besieged by warring parties. Though WFP has all it needs to support those trapped by this vicious war, we remain blocked by its combatants, who do not give consideration to the international humanitarian law and use the denial of food and aid as weapons of war.

Our position is firm and resolute: food, shelter and safety should never be weaponized and used as a military tactic. All Syrians – no matter where they are – deserve nothing less than food, shelter and safety from the continuing conflict. Let’s turn our collective outrage into collective action. Syrians deserve nothing less than peace.

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WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.

For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):

Gerald Bourke, WFP/New York, Tel. +1-646-5566909, Mob.  +1-646 525 9982

Steve Taravella, WFP/Washington DC, Tel. +1 202 653 1149, Mob. +1 202 770 5993

Jane Howard, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 65132321, Mob. +39 346 7600521

Bettina Luescher, WFP/Geneva, Tel. +41 22 917 8564, Mob. + 41-79-842-8057