U.N. Security Council unanimously approves Syria aid access resolution

2014-02-22 95

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The U.N. Security Council on Saturday unanimously adopted a resolution to boost humanitarian access in Syria.

The resolution also threatens to take "further steps" in the case of non-compliance, demands cross-border aid access and condemns rights abuses by the Syrian government and opposition armed groups.

Russia and China, which have shielded Syria's government on the 15-member Security Council during the country's three-year-long civil war, voted in favor of the resolution. They had previously vetoed three resolutions that would have condemned Syria's government and threatened it with possible sanctions.

"This resolution should not have been necessary. Humanitarian assistance is not something to be negotiated; it is something to be allowed by virtue of international law," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the council.

The resolution asks Ban to report back to the council in 30 days on the implementation of the reso