In a statement before the Human Rights Council, Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister Bashar Al-Jaafari said, “The Western coercive measures have turned into economic terrorism targeting the Syrian citizens in their right to life, health, education, and development in all its forms.”

He indicated that Syria facilitated the work of 44 international NGOs concerned with humanitarian issues on its territory with the aim of supporting the state’s efforts to mitigate the negative impacts of the crisis and coercive measures.

Al-Jaafari added that Syria facilitated the access of humanitarian assistance to all its areas without discrimination, including hard-to-reach or besieged areas by terrorist groups, with the number of beneficiaries reaching about 8.5 million.

“It is surprising that all the institutions, bodies and agencies of the United Nations ignore the alliance of the Israeli occupation with international terrorism and its sponsors,” he said.

Al-Jaafari stressed that the allegations made by the delegations of some countries in today's session contain a lot of prejudice that aim to insult the Syrian government and that the open sources from which the international mechanisms derive their information lack credibility and are infiltrated by the intelligence services of the state sponsors of terrorism. 

The top Syrian official said that Syria effectively contributed to the establishment of the mechanism of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) because it is the only international impartial mechanism that guarantees the review of the human rights record of all countries on an equal footing.

“Syria, in order to implement its international commitments and belief in international cooperation, presents its third national report within the framework of the periodic review mechanism on time despite the challenges it faces,” Al-Jaafari said in his statement before the Human Rights Council.