United Nations’ Reputation Slips as Four-Year War in Syria Drags On

Syrian Kurdish refugees seeking shelter last fall in Turkey. Aid agencies trying to help Syrians say they continue to be stymied in their efforts. Credit Bryan Denton for The New York Times.

By SOMINI SENGUPTA, NYT
MARCH 12, 2015

UNITED NATIONS — United Nations experts have painstakingly documented a litany of torture, rape and execution committed in Syria in the past four years. No one has been held accountable.

The Security Council has authorized the delivery of food and medicines, but a year since it did, aid agencies say they continue to be stymied — with no reprisal from the world powers.

As for a political solution to end the war, the third and latest United Nations envoy, Staffan de Mistura, has yet to persuade the warring sides to agree to a truce for even a few weeks in even a single city, let alone resume peace talks.

On all three counts, the United Nations as a whole has been unable to offer a path out of a war that has dragged on for four years, left an estimated 220,000 dead, given rise to vicious jihadists and spread havoc across the region.

(More here.)