https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/05/middleeast/ghouta-protest-intl/index.html
Activists in besieged Eastern Ghouta have taken to wrapping dead bodies in United
Nations banners to express residents’ “frustration” with the international community, activist monitoring group the
Damascus Media Center told CNN.
One such photo, showing two children wrapped in the flag of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), made the rounds
on social media over the weekend. Activist Rami Jarrah said the children had died in an airstrike on Saturday night.
CNN has been unable to contact the photographer to verify the assertion.
Activists said they received the photo from a group inside Eastern Ghouta, one of the last rebel-held enclaves in
Syria. Nearly 600 people are believed to have died and more than 2,000 injured in Syrian government air and
ground strikes there since an oensive
began February 18, according to the United Nations. Nearly 400,000
people are believed to be trapped inside the enclave.
Since the UN Security Council unanimously voted for a ceasefire in Syria one week ago, violence has escalated,
according to the UN Regional Coordinator for the Syrian crisis Panos Moumtzis. “Instead of a much-needed
reprieve, we continue to see more fighting, more death, and more disturbing reports of hunger and hospitals being
bombed,” Moumtzis said in a statement on Sunday. “This collective punishment of civilians is simply
unacceptable,” he said.
Jarrah said the photo oers
a vivid illustration of the plight facing people in Eastern Ghouta.
“(The photo) shows the extent to which these people are desperate, where they’re not thinking about their children
that just died. They’re thinking about the possibility of 400,000 people dying,” he said.
“They’re using that moment to protest to the world. And I think that’s just outrageous that parents can be pushed
to that extent,” Jarrah added.
In two tweets, UNHCR Communications Chief Melissa Fleming
wrote: “The @UN humanitarian community, which includes
450 of my colleagues in Syria, has been doing everything
within their power to reach people in need – the blame for all
the suering
lies with those who deny access or drop bombs
on children.”
“A distinction should be made between teams in Syria trying
to save lives and those with political influence who could end
this mad war,” she added.
UNHCR ocials
told CNN that the tweets were the
organization’s ocial
response to the photo.