To Benefit From International Aid: How the Assad Regime Controls U.N. Agencies’ Work in Syria

A report published by The Financial Times last week revealed how the Syrian regime is exploiting the tragedies of the Syrian people to serve its interests in the midst of intertwined relations with the United Nations, which led to an abject failure in delivering aid to those affected, especially to areas outside Assad’s control in the north of the country.

The report showed the extent to which the Assad regime has penetrated U.N. and international organizations operating in its areas of control, and the involvement of these organizations in several cases of corruption and nepotism, pointing out that the U.N. agencies employ figures close to the regime and contract with companies or finance projects whose officials are subject to Western sanctions for their violations against the Syrian people for 12 years.

It is the habit of the Assad regime to impose restrictions on the passage of aid to the areas that need it, in addition to directing aid to the communities it prefers over others, and harassing NGO staff, according to a report issued by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in February 2022.

The report said that international organizations that seek to overcome the restrictions imposed by the Assad regime on the mechanism of its work in its areas of control are repeatedly subjected to sanctions, and this is usually done by restricting access and employee visas.

 

Blackmail or Corruption?

The recent devastating earthquake that occurred last February highlighted the size of the concessions made by some international organizations to the Assad regime and the slow pace of international aid reaching the poor opposition areas in northern Syria, which was recognized by prominent figures in the U.N., as reported by The Financial Times on March 8, 2023.

It also revealed how humanitarian aid is routinely used by the Assad regime and the ways in which the U.N. and other aid organizations are forced to make concessions that benefit the Syrian president and his partners, according to aid experts and people working in the sector.

In one example, the report noted that the daughter of Hussam Louka, the head of the Political Security Directorate in Syria, had been assigned to the U.N. Central Emergency Response Fund office in Damascus, according to four people with knowledge of the situation.

Hussam Louka’s name appeared among the lists of security figures affiliated with the regime responsible for torturing detainees in prisons. In 2012, the EU included Major General Louka on its sanctions list due to his participation in torturing demonstrators and the civilian population; his name was also mentioned in the U.S. sanctions within the Caesar Act.

The U.N. does not disclose any personal information to its employees, and all employees are recruited according to strict recruitment processes, a U.N. Spokesperson claimed.

“I can’t tell you how many times Syrian government officials have walked into our offices and forced us to hire their children,” said one aid worker based in the Middle East.

In the context of other recruitment processes that reflect the cooperation of the U.N. and international organizations with the Assad regime, the U.N. World Health Organization appointed in 2016 the wife of Faisal al-Miqdad, the then Syrian deputy foreign minister, as a project consultant in its Damascus office, as revealed by The New York Times.

In the same year, The Guardian obtained leaked documents that showed that the U.N. employs dozens of friends and relatives of Assad regime officials in its humanitarian aid programs in Syria.

A former U.N. director told the newspaper that every U.N. agency has at least one person who is a direct relative of an Assad regime official.

At that time, the U.N. commented on these reports by saying: “Family kinship is not taken into account or investigated when contracting with employees, just as the U.N. does not ask their staff members about their political affiliations.”

On his part, Dr. Mohamad Katoub, a humanitarian activist, told Al-Estiklal that what the Financial Times revealed far exceeds the corruption of the U.N. in choosing its employees, adding that It shows the systematic weaponization of the aid system by the Assad regime.

What is noteworthy in the case of Hussam Louka’s daughter is that she used to work with the International Committee of the Red Cross before working with the U.N. CERF, which is very dangerous, because she may have previously seen sensitive files, such as the file of detainees, according to him.

As explained by Dr. Katoub, there is a great benefit for the Assad regime by employing one of its close associates, with the presence of loyal staff involved in all stages of the work of the U.N., from contracting with suppliers, through planning, implementation, and directing programs, to monitoring and evaluation operations.

 

U.N. Concessions

In the same context, The Financial Times pointed out that the aid efforts made by any international organization and all aid programs in Syria must be approved by the Assad government, in addition to the presence of several interventions from various ministries and intelligence branches. According to relief groups, obtaining these permits represents a major obstacle to their work.

The U.N. agencies rapidly increased their presence in Syria and made many concessions to the Assad regime, expecting its rapid fall, but it withstood the popular revolution and regained control over large areas of areas that were out of its control, with military support from Russia and Iran.

However, the initial concessions made by international aid agencies were not renegotiated, as over the years, aid groups acceded to the Syrian regime’s demands out of fear of losing the continued flow of humanitarian aid to the country’s civilians.

The British newspaper pointed out that the U.N. offices operating in the areas controlled by the Syrian regime face a major ethical dilemma; it either must play according to Bashar al-Assad’s instructions, or its aid will be hindered from reaching needy Syrians across the country.

The accommodation of international organizations and U.N. agencies’ staff in the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus is one of the most prominent examples of the uncomfortable solutions imposed by the Syrian regime on the U.N.

The U.N. is paying millions of dollars ($11.5 million in 2022, and $81.6 million in total since 2014, according to its own data) for its staff to stay at the hotel owned by businessman Samer Foz, who himself and his hotel were sanctioned by the United States in 2019 over their financial ties to Assad.

The accommodation was one of those services that the U.N. has no choice about, said Francesco Galtieri, a senior U.N. official in Damascus, adding that the U.N. has regularly requested the Syrian regime’s approval to use alternative accommodation but has not received approval.

Among the concessions offered by the U.N. to the Assad regime is to force international aid agencies to use the official exchange rate, which is disproportionate to the black-market rate, which allows the regime to withdraw millions of dollars in humanitarian aid and support the central bank’s foreign reserves.

 

Suspicious Partners

In another context, The Financial Times report indicated, according to Syrian sources, aid workers, and experts, that U.N. agencies and international relief groups are required to partner with agencies affiliated with the Syrian regime to manage the distribution of aid in areas under its control inside the country.

The report also pointed out that one of the most prominent of these groups linked to the Assad regime is the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, which is run by Khaled Hboubati, who is close to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in addition to the Syria Trust for Development, which was founded by the Syrian president’s wife, Asma al-Assad, who still has significant influence over its operations.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent is the main partner of the U.N. in Syria and has great authority over the mechanism of work of international NGOs.

During the past few days, Syrian activists and human rights activists demanded, through a memorandum addressed to the French and European parliaments and the European Commission, not to invite the Syrian Red Crescent organization loyal to the Assad regime to attend the Brussels conference of donor countries to help the earthquake victims in Syria and Turkiye, which was scheduled to be held on March 16.

In turn, a European alliance led by Sweden, France, and Germany responded to these demands, refusing to invite any representative of the Assad regime to the conference.

However, countries leading normalization processes with the Assad regime, including the UAE, “Israel,” Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan, insisted on the need for a representative of the regime to be present at the conference, which led to unexpected disagreements and the postponement of the conference to March 20.

In turn, a member of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Yahya Maktabi, said that the postponement of the conference came after a political and legal battle and conflicting opinions among the participating countries about the participation of the Assad regime or one of its arms such as the Red Crescent or the Syria Trust for Development.

 

U.N. Complicity

It is noteworthy that the U.N. agencies working in Syria have faced, during the past two years, many criticisms due to the increase in the pace of their dealings with the Syrian regime outside the framework of humanitarian aid and relief work, sometimes publicly and covertly, which appeared through several investigations.

On October 25, 2022, an investigation revealed that nearly a quarter of the top 100 suppliers listed as receiving U.N. procurement funds between 2019 and 2020 were either companies or individuals subject to Western sanctions.

The report included documents revealing that the U.N. provided about $137 million of its spending on procurement for these companies owned by: Samir Hassan, Fadi Saqr, Samer Foz, Nuzhat Mamlouk, Hashem al-Akkad, Nader Kalai, Khaled al-Zubaidi and others.

Fadi Saqr is the leader of the National Defense Militia loyal to the Syrian regime and responsible for widespread violations against the Syrian demonstrators. As for Nuzhat Mamlouk, he is the son of Major General Ali Mamlouk, director of the National Security Bureau and the most powerful and prominent security figure in the Syrian regime.

Samir Hassan is also sanctioned by the EU and the U.K. for his role in supporting the Syrian regime, in addition to Nader Kalai and Khaled Al-Zubaidi also being targeted by U.S. sanctions under the Caesar Act.

On October 20, 2022, an investigation published by the Associated Press revealed the involvement of WHO’s representative in Syria, Akjemal Magtymova, in pressuring the organization’s employees in Syria to sign contracts with politicians affiliated with the government of the Syrian regime in addition to the misuse of WHO and donor funds.

Investigations have previously documented a range of activities between U.N. agencies and the Syrian regime publicly, most notably the WHO’s use of an American-sanctioned airline to transport Syrian mercenaries and weapons, and then the Syrian regime’s election as a member of its Executive Council, in addition to the U.N. Development Program’s collaboration with the National Union of Syrian Students (NUSS) to organize the international Hult Prize competition.