UN Photo Exhibit Sponsored by Syrian Regime Accused of 'Whitewashing War Crimes'

A UN photography exhibition depicting the Syrian Civil War's toll on Aleppo has drawn outcry from a prominent opposition group, which says the Assad government-sponsored show serves to "whitewash the regime's war crimes."

The exhibition of 25 pieces by Syrian photographer Hagop Vanesian, titled "My Homeland," went on display on Thursday on the first floor of the UN Secretariat in New York.

Dr. Najib Ghadbian, the UN representative of the Syrian National Coalition, wrote a letter to the UN's management chief, charged with coordinating installations like Vanesian's, in which he called the photographer a "regime propagandist" and asked for the show to be canceled.

In response to questions about the letter, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday that the UN can neither approve or block exhibitions that member states elect to sponsor. "Slots for exhibits in the Secretariat's non-public areas are managed by Department of Management and are given to member-states on a first come first serve basis," said Dujarric.

According to the Associated Press, Aleppo-born Vanesian posted several photos on his Facebook account last summer that showed him shaking hands with Syria's UN ambassador Bashar al Jaafari, along with a portrait of the diplomat.

In his letter Ghadbian accused Vanesian of having "praised Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma," and said he "uses his photographs to tell a false story of the Assad's self proclaimed humanitarianism."

At a reception on Thursday evening where he again posed for pictures with Jaafari, the photographer defended his work, telling VICE News that "my message is humanitarian, nothing else."

Vanesian, a Christian of Armenian descent, spent two years in Aleppo taking photographs, including a period embedded with the Syrian Red Crescent. He said he was only able to photograph government sectors of the city due to security concerns.

In pictures: Syrian refugees are freezing to death as snow blankets the region. See here.

"I would like to go to other side, I would like to photograph the other people — we are all Syrians, one nation," he added.

Vanesian's pictures show bombed-out churches, pillaged homes, parents mourning dead children, and improvised defenses made of sheets to prevent snipers' lines of sight. In photographs where a looming enemy is suggested, it is invariably rebel forces.

In one photograph, four children, among them a toddler, are shown standing around an unexploded jerry-rigged gas canister missile, a weapon known to be used by rebels in and around the city.

Another shows a man holding a girl with one hand and a stringed instrument in the other. Across his back is strung a weapon. The photograph's short description references the man: "Both musician and fighter, defending his neighborhood from terror groups." The Assad regime commonly refers to all groups in opposition to the government — not just the Islamic State or the al Qaeda affiliated al Nusra Front — as "terrorists."

Vanesian's photographs do not depict or make reference to barrel bombs, or any government ordinances, that have been dropped on the city by regime forces and reap a heavy civilian toll.

Asked whether he thought all opposition members were "terrorists," Vanesian said: "I am a photographer, I am an artist, I didn't come here for politics."

In his letter to the UN, Ghadbian claimed "Mr. Vanesian is awarded access to and is at times embedded with Syrian regime forces in Aleppo." Vanesian says he had no choice but to seek the protection of the army, lest he be kidnapped or killed.

'We don't have any hope to go back': Syrian refugees' lives turn permanent in Zaatari refugee camp. Read more here.

Jaafari, who darted around the exhibition speaking with friends and diplomats, told VICE News that Ghadbian's letter was void because he didn't represent a member state.

"The UN is an open podium for the member states, it is not an open podium for opposition groups," the ambassador said.

In fact, The Syrian National Coalition itself took part in an event at the UN, at the invitation of a member state. In September 2013, France held a meeting in the Secretariat's ECOSOC Chamber "in honor of the President of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces" — the group's official name. Ahmad Jarba, then president of the coalition, spoke in the chamber.

On Thursday, Jaafari, gesturing to the photographs, said he couldn't see what the controversy was about.

"If you are a genuine Syrian citizen who loves his country you shouldn't object to holding such an exhibition at the United Nations because it is eyewitness testimony… about what's going on in Aleppo," said Jaafari.

"People don't know what they are talking about — they are taking a political stance on humanitarian issues," he added, referring to the letter.

Meanwhile, 2014 was the deadliest year yet of Syria's now four year civil war. Some 76,000 people were killed, bringing the conflict's toll to over 200,000, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The observatory estimates that nearly 18,000 civilians perished in the last 12 months. Wednesday was the first day in three years where no one was reported as killed in fighting in the country.

Last year, the UN's former human rights chief Navi Pillay said that "the actions of the forces of the government far outweigh the violations" by rebels. At the time, Jaafari called Pillay a "lunatic."

Fighting in Aleppo, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has effectively destroyed its old city and split its ruins between government forces and rival rebel groups. According to SOHR, as rebels including the al Nusra Front clashed with the Syrian army on Thursday, regime helicopters dropped 10 barrel bombs — which explode indiscriminately — in east Aleppo.

The UN has struggled to reach some 212,000 people trapped, mostly by government blockades, in besieged areas in the city. This week, the World Health Organization said that despite promises from the Syrian government, it has not been able to move desperately needed medical supplies to rebel held areas of Aleppo.

Despite the fracas over the installation, UN staff members passing by the photographs earlier in the day told VICE News they had little notion of the controversy.

"I think the focus is more on the children, I think that's what he's looking at," said one UN employee who preferred to remain anonymous. "I think they portray the human element."

Another UN staff member, who only gave her first name — Eve — said she hadn't noticed that the images only depicted one part of the city, nor the language employed in their descriptions.

"Part of the problem in the UN system is you have to consider each country," she told VICE News. "But the photos affected me, they are great photos."

Another staff member said allegations of bias weren't surprising. "Well, it's sponsored by the Syrian mission…" he said, trailing off, before returning to his office.