The United Nations General Assembly voted 122 to 13 on Friday to demand an immediate cessation of hostilities in Syria, humanitarian aid access throughout the country and an end to all sieges, including in Aleppo. Thirty-six countries abstained in the vote on the Canadian-drafted resolution on the nearly six-year-old Syrian conflict. The UN resolution asks the UN secretary-general to report in 45 days on the implementation of the resolution and with recommendations "on ways and means to protect civilians." Canadian UN Ambassador Marc-Andre Blanchard acknowledged that the resolution was not a solution to the conflict, but an important statement. "It is a reminder that above all else the lives of the Syrian people should be our priority. They are our priority and the world will not stay silent while they suffer without assistance," he said before the vote.
