{"id":50341,"date":"2023-02-18T06:13:33","date_gmt":"2023-02-18T11:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/?p=50341"},"modified":"2023-02-18T06:13:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-18T11:13:35","slug":"faith-leaders-to-biden-lift-sanctions-expedite-relief-to-syria-and-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/faith-leaders-to-biden-lift-sanctions-expedite-relief-to-syria-and-turkey\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith Leaders to Biden: Lift Sanctions, Expedite Relief to Syria and Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In response to the devastating earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey, Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ joined 16 national faith organizations in calling on the United States to lift sanctions on Syria and expedite the humanitarian response. The full statement is below and available for download here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can take action in support of this call here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

National Faith Organizations urge the United States to lift sanctions on Syria and expedite
humanitarian assistance to facilitate earthquake response<\/strong>

Early on the morning of February 6, the region surrounding Gaziantep in Southern T\u00fcrkiye was hit with a 7.8 magnitude earthquake<\/a>, followed by a second earthquake nine hours later with a magnitude <\/a>of 7.5<\/a>. Since then, there have been well over a hundred aftershocks, with many more expected in the coming weeks and months. As of February 17, over 40,000 Syrians, Turks, and Kurds are known to have perished and around 26 <\/a>million <\/a>persons<\/a> have been affected by the earthquakes. The T\u00fcrkiye-Syrian border has been home to many displaced Syrians since the beginning of the Syrian war on March 15, 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We appreciate the Biden administration\u2019s quick humanitarian response. <\/a>Disaster <\/a>response teams<\/a> sent by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to T\u00fcrkiye and Northern Syria were direly needed. We additionally applaud the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)\u2019s issuing of the new Syrian <\/a>General <\/a>License<\/a> for the necessary aid response, but fear this will not go far enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle East Council of Churches<\/a> and World Council of Churches have called for the lifting of U.S. <\/a>economic <\/a>sanctions<\/a> in order to help not only those affected by the recent earthquakes but also civilians throughout all of Syria<\/a> who are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. They cannot fulfill all the needs of Syrians within their parishes and regions because of the multilayered constrictions caused by U.S. sanctions<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joining in with our siblings in Syria, and in the spirit of Isaiah 1:17, \u201cDo good; seek justice,\u201d and Micah 6:8, \u201c\u2026do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly\u2026\u201d we call on the U.S. government to urgently reconsider the use of broad based sanctions<\/a> in Syria. Sanctions and their collateral effects have already caused Syrians dire harm. The recent earthquakes will surely compound humanitarian needs in Syria<\/a>, and U.S. sanctions will continue to inhibit our work with our Syrian counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, we as a community ask Congress and the Administration to: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n