SYRIA: WITH AID EFFORTS DRAMATICALLY HOBBLED, UN OFFICIALS CALL ON COUNCIL TO ACT

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From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 18 Apr 2013 14:00:00 -0400
Subject: SYRIA: WITH AID EFFORTS DRAMATICALLY HOBBLED, UN OFFICIALS
CALL ON COUNCIL TO ACT
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

SYRIA: WITH AID EFFORTS DRAMATICALLY HOBBLED, UN OFFICIALS CALL ON
COUNCIL TO ACT
New York, Apr 18 2013 2:00PM
Humanitarian organizations are facing enormous and dramatically
growing constraints in aiding millions of Syrians overwhelmed by the
"human catastrophe" that the war-torn country has become, top United
Nations officials warned today, calling on the Security Council to at
last do something to end the horror.

"I cannot overstate the seriousness of the current situation in
Syria," Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos
said, listing a litany of hurdles facing aid agencies, including visas
delayed for up to two months, a three-day notice requirement imposed
on all aid convoys and other bureaucratic delays, dozens of road
blocks, and a reduction of approved non-Government Organizations
(NGOs) from 110 to 29.

She stressed that conditions are most severe in combat- and
opposition-controlled areas with latest figures showing 6.8 million
people in need, 4.25 million people internally displaced and an
additional 1.3 million seeking refuge in neighbouring countries from a
conflict that has killed over 70,000 people since opposition forces
sought to oust President Bashar Al-Assad in 2011.

"And this body has been unable to reach the consensus necessary to
support a political solution to the crisis," she said. "While the
humanitarian situation on the ground is becoming more and more
disastrous every day, the limitations on the ground have forced us to
being precariously close to suspending some critical humanitarian
operations.

"We are approaching a point of no return. Members of the international
community, particularly Members of this Council must urgently come
together in support of the Syrian people," she added. "This Council
must also request the parties to ensure the safe and unimpeded access
of aid organizations to those in need in all areas of Syria."

Contrary to widely held perceptions, aid-flows across the Turkish
border to Aleppo have been significantly reduced in the past two
months while humanitarian convoys are regularly attacked or shot at
and staff intimidated or kidnapped, she said.

Syria's main cities have been devastated, waste is piling up, and
concerns about outbreaks of diarrhoea and cholera are growing absent
the urgent restoration of the most basic services. In Aleppo, doctors
lack blood banks, anaesthetic or even suture thread while the hospital
and its staff are regularly hit during fighting.

Children are among those who suffer most with three million already
affected, including 2 million displaced, Ms. Amos said, noting that
children have been murdered, tortured and subjected to sexual
violence, many do not have enough food to eat and millions have been
traumatised by the horrors they have witnessed.

"This brutal conflict is not only shattering Syria's present, it is
also destroying its future," she stressed.

Ms. Amos was able to report some improvement in funding, with about
half of the $1.5 billion required to cover Syria's humanitarian needs
until June now received thanks to the recent allocation of the $300
million pledged by Kuwait in January.

"We all look to this Council to guarantee the peace and security of
the people of our world," she concluded. "My appeal to this Council
is on behalf of the Syrian people but it is also on behalf of all
those seeking to assist them. We are losing hope. We cannot do our
jobs properly. We look to you to take the action necessary to end this
brutal conflict."

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres warned the Council
that without an end to the fighting soon, almost half of Syria's 20.8
million people could be in need of humanitarian help by the end of
this year, noting that 400,000 refugees had fled in the last seven
weeks alone, bringing those registered as refugees or waiting to be
registered to 1,367,413.

If current trends continue, he said, then by the end of the year there
may be up to 3.5 million Syrians refugees, together with 6.5 million
people inside Syria who may be in need of help, he said by video-link
from Geneva.

"These figures are terrifying," he added. "This is not just
frightening, it risks becoming simply unsustainable. There is no way
to adequately respond to the enormous humanitarian needs these figures
represent. And it is difficult to imagine how a nation can endure so
much suffering.

"I know that, as High Commissioner for Refugees, I should confine my
remarks to the scope of my mandate. But as a citizen of the world, I
cannot refrain from asking: Isn't there any way to stop this fighting,
to open the door for a political solution?"

Zainab Bangura, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict,
said women and children are being raped and abducted, with both
Government and opposition forces allegedly involved. "We have watched,
we have discussed, and now it is time to take concrete action," she
told the 15-member body.

For her part, Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative on Children and
Armed Conflict, also pleaded for a halt to the fighting to protect
Syria's children.
Apr 18 2013 2:00PM
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