UN Officials Mustn’t Politicize Humanitarian Issues: al-Shammat

DAMASCUS, (ST)- “UN officials should be neutral and must not exploit their visits to Syria for political purposes,” Minister of Social Affairs Dr. Kinda al-Shammat said on Wednesday.

The minister was speaking to journalists during her tour with Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict Affairs, at one of the temporary sheltering centers in al-Zahera al-Jadida area in Damascus.

Dr. al-Shammat urged not to politicize a sensitive and important issue like childhood, expressing her disappointment over Zerrougui’s lack of interest in the talk of the women and children she met at the sheltering center.

“Zerrougui’s lack of interest affirms that she came to Syria to play a role that is prepared in advance,” Dr. Al-Shammat said. 

She also regretted the UN official’s describing of the national feelings of children at the center as a “media propaganda”.

The minister stressed that the government has spared no effort to provide all forms of care and protection to the children displaced from their houses as a result of the ongoing events in the country.

H. Mustafa