NGO chiefs comment on plight of Syrians both in and out of the country

(22 Jan 2014) As international delegates met in Montreux in Switzerland on Wednesday to try and hammer out a Syrian peace accord, company executives and directors from some of the world's largest relief organisations met to discuss the humanitarian situation, and work out a way forward for the millions of Syrian refugees. They met over breakfast on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. The WEF, which draws officials from around the world, has seen its focus move from economic matters, to global crises, such as Syria. Human Rights Watch executive director, Kenneth Roth, said he was deeply sceptical of the talks in Montreux, and said the focus should be on small achievable goals and access for humanitarian groups. "My fear is that the Geneva 2 negotiators will focus exclusively on trying to achieve a grand political solution and a grand peace for Syria. Everybody wants that but nobody thinks that is achievable any time in the near future. What is achievable are smaller scale agreements to allow free access of humanitarian aid to the million of Syrians in desperate need," he said. The talks in Montreux got off to a rocky start on Wednesday as a bitter clash over President Bashar Assad's future threatened to collapse the negotiations even before they really began. With this in mind, many are doubtful the talks will lead to any long term solution, and with millions of Syrian lives still at risk, humanitarian agencies say access needs to be urgently granted. "There needs to be unfettered access for humanitarian aid because the people on the ground are suffering at a scale which is just unbelievable and the second is they need to stop killings and that is only going to happen if they allow for human rights monitors to go in," said Salil Shetty, Secretary-General of Amnesty International. "Unless these two things happen out of Geneva 2 or post Geneva 2, I think there isn't much hope." While talks continue, so does the bloodshed with Syria's state media reporting clashes between government forces and opposition fighters in the suburbs of Damascus, Daraa, Idlib and Aleppo. Roth on Wednesday also called on more affluent countries in the European Union to help Syrian asylum seekers. Many Syrian refugees have sought to get to richer, Western nations, but under EU rules they were returned to the first EU country they entered. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...