INTRO:
Hundreds of staff members from United Nations agencies rallied around UN headquarters in New York Thursday to show solidarity with the Syrian people, and call for an end to the carnage.
The rally came as a fragile ceasefire held in eastern Aleppo for remaining rebels to withdraw and for civilians to be evacuated.
UN correspondent Liling Tan reports from New York.
IN: "Surrounding the iconic… "
OUT: SOC
DUR: 4:10
TAKE VO:
Surrounding the iconic bronze sculpture of the Silenced Gun at the United Nations… of a revolver with a knotted barrel that symbolizes peace, UN staff members gathered to send a message to the world.
Stop the carnage in Syria, spare the civilians, and end the conflict once and for all.
TAKE SOT: Kieran Dwyer, UNICEF humanitarian advocate
"It's critical that United Nations staff stand with people of the world in the darkest days. And with people in Aleppo, in the eastern part of Aleppo, and millions of people across Syria are facing awful violence now."
Kieran Dwyer, humanitarian advocate at the UN Children's Fund UNICEF, had just returned from Syria three weeks ago.
TAKE SOT: Kieran Dwyer, UNICEF humanitarian advocate
It's shocking to see the opportunities to end this conflict through dialogue and a political solution get missed and missed and missed again. And it's civilians, it's families, it's children, the most vulnerable people who keep paying this price."
TAKE VO:
A pause in fighting is underway in eastern Aleppo as part of a Russia-Turkey ceasefire deal to allow remaining rebels to withdraw and civilians to evacuate.
The agreement came as Syrian government forces this week recaptured eastern Aleppo from rebel control.
The evacuations have provided a glimmer of hope to an extremely dire humanitarian situation.
Jan Egeland, Special Advisor on Syria, said the UN has been invited to monitor and help in the evacuations.
TAKE SOT: Jan Egeland, Special Advisor on Syria
"We were invited this morning to monitor, assist the evacuation that will take place from the remaining enclave that is controlled by armed opposition groups. It is a three prong evacuation; it is a medical evacuation of wounded and sick. It is an evacuation of vulnerable civilians and it is an evacuation of fighters."
TAKE VO:
But the humanitarian pause is not a lasting political solution, and efforts by the UN Security Council to find an answer to end the 5-year-long war have led nowhere.
Divisions within the council have pit Syria's ally Russia against the US, the UK and France, each side accusing the other of fueling the conflict and attacking civilians.
Six UN Security Council resolutions on Syria have failed to pass, with vetoes from Russia and China.
UPSOUND: It's frustrating for all of us.
Alexandra Sicotte-Levesque of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, explains.
TAKE SOT: Alexandra Sicotte-Levesque, OCHA
"We need to remember that sadly the UN is the sum of its member states and the UN itself as an entity is very limited in what it can do. It's about political will of its member states and in this case the countries that are sitting on the Security Council. It is up to them to do something about the situation and we are there to support those situations but unless they make a very strong decision about stopping the conflict in Syria there is nothing we can do and we feel very angry and powerless."
TAKE VO:
Briefing the press Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was encouraged by news of the ceasefire, but condemned reports that an aid convoy was fired upon.
He called attacks on civilians and aid personnel "inexcusable," and pressed for a durable ceasefire and a political solution.
TAKE SOT John Kerry
"What we want in Aleppo right now, which is the precursor to any ability to move to other things, is an immediate and verifiable durable cessation of hostilities."
TAKE VO:
But the US, which has been on the sidelines of the latest ceasefire and evacuation deal reached between Russia and Turkey, offered no new plans.
Meanwhile, France has called for an emergency Security Council briefing on Aleppo, for an update on conditions on the ground.
SOC