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UN chief urges parties to stop targeting civilian facilities in Syria

17 May 2014 04:07 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday urged all parties in Syria to ensure water supplies to civilians and refrain from targeting civilian facilities and infrastructure, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The Secretary-General is concerned by reports that water supplies in the city of Aleppo were deliberately cut off by armed groups for eight days, depriving at least 2.5 million people of access to safe water for drinking and sanitation," a statement issued by Ban's spokesperson said.

The statement noted that preventing people's access to safe water is a denial of a fundamental human right.

"Deliberate targeting of civilians and depriving them of essential supplies is a clear breach of international humanitarian and human rights law," it said.

The radical groups, who are in control of two main water pumping stations in Aleppo, have managed to cut off drinking water to the government-controlled western part of the city. During Syria's long-standing crisis, the rebels have repeatedly attacked the country's infrastructure, plunging large areas in complete power outages and cutting off water to many areas as well.

While water supplies have since been restored, the UN chief urged "all parties to ensure that the water supply in Aleppo - and everywhere in Syria - is permanently restored and to refrain from targeting civilian facilities and infrastructure."

"He asks member states and those with influence over all the parties to the conflict to remind them of their obligations," the statement said.