J une 26, 2014

The Honorable J ohn F. Kerry

Office of the Secretary of State
United States Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Kerry,

On behalf of United to End Genocide and our hundreds of thousands of activists dedicated to
preventing and ending genocide and mass atrocities, I am writing to urge you to move forward
with aggressive delivery of cross-border aid to the millions living in desperate conditions in
Syria.

It has been six weeks since your announcement at the latest Friends of Syria meeting that the
United States is considering alternative ways for delivering aid with or without Assads consent.
With 4.7 million people in areas difficult or impossible for humanitarian actors to reach and 10.8
million overall in need of urgent humanitarian assistance in Syria, it is vital that the United States
and its allies move forward as soon as possible. Now, over three years since the crisis began,
over 160,000 people have died and the lives of many more civilians remain at risk. The idea of
aid sitting on UN trucks just across the border and unable to reach those in need just a few miles
away is appalling. Action is needed now.

Despite a unanimously adopted February UN Security Council Resolution demanding rapid,
safe, and unhindered access, including across borders, access has actually gotten worse. This was
made clear in the briefing before the UN Security Council today by UN humanitarian chief
Valerie Amos who reported arbitrary restrictions and obstructions including bureaucratic
procedures imposed by the government limit or obstruct where we deliver aid, to whom and how
often. The deterioration was further noted in the latest report of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-
Moon, who noted that there has been no improvement in achieving sustained humanitarian
access to all people in need within Syria. The Secretary General further reported that the biggest
obstacle to delivering medicines and medical supplies is the decision by the Government of
Syria to prohibit the delivery of specific lifesaving supplies as a matter of policy, calling this a
clear violation of international humanitarian law.

His report concluded that the UN is ready to put in place speedy, pragmatic and practical
arrangements at critical border crossings to allow United Nations convoys to cross the border
into Syria in their own vehicles, without the need for specific permits or visas to deliver
urgently needed relief to people in need.

In addition to the moral argument, the legal argument for allowing such cross-border aid delivery
was laid out in a recent letter by dozens of international legal experts, including the former chief
legal counsel of the United Nations. The letter concluded that there is no legal barrier to the
U.N. directly undertaking cross-border humanitarian operations and supporting NGOs to
undertake them as well.

With the growing momentum for taking action to help the worlds most vulnerable, the United
States should push for alternative ways for cross-border delivery at the UN Security Council. If
progress in the Security Council is barred, as with the shameful Russia-China double veto of a
referral to the International Criminal Court, the United States should move forward quickly
through the UN General Assembly and the many allies who support a more aggressive approach
to saving lives.

Once again, I express deep concern over the continued deteriorating condition for millions of
Syrian civilians without access to life-saving aid. We echo the call of the Secretary General in
the strongest terms, to honour the humanitarian imperative of saving lives and meeting urgent
humanitarian needs, wherever they occur. We welcome your consideration of alternative means
for cross-border delivery and strongly urge the United States to move forward with a more
aggressive approach to save lives. The time for action is now.

Sincerely,



Hon. Thomas H. Andrews
President and CEO
United to End Genocide