UN SPOTLIGHTS CIVILIAN SUFFERING IN SYRIA BY SCREENING 'VIRAL' IMAGE IN NEW YORK, TOKYO

From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 21 Mar 2014 14:00:01 -0400
Subject: UN SPOTLIGHTS CIVILIAN SUFFERING IN SYRIA BY SCREENING
'VIRAL' IMAGE IN NEW YORK, TOKYO
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

UN SPOTLIGHTS CIVILIAN SUFFERING IN SYRIA BY SCREENING 'VIRAL' IMAGE
IN NEW YORK, TOKYONew York, Mar 21 2014 2:00PM
The United Nations has drawn on the bustling energy of two of the
world's most fabled crossroads - New York City's Times Square and
Tokyo's Shibuya crossing - to spotlight the ongoing struggle of
besieged civilians trapped amid Syria's civil war, launching a
"flashmob" and simultaneously showing on the junctions'
mega-billboards the now-iconic photograph of thousands of people in a
Damascus refugee camp waiting in line for food supplies.
</P>


The massive international social media campaign led by the UN Relief
and Works Agency (UNRWA), which ensures the well-being of Palestinian
refugees across the Middle East, culminated with last night's
simultaneous events on either side of the globe: in New York scores of
people joined a flashmob vigil silently holding up pita bread to the
gaunt figures on the giant screen above; in Tokyo, similarly
enthusiastic crowds gathered.
</P>


The image being viewed by the crowds is jaw-dropping: it shows
thousands of Palestinian refugees waiting amid the rubble of crumbling
buildings to receive food aid in Yarmouk, which is a suburb on the
outskirts of Damascus, and to which UNRWA and its humanitarian
partners had had only sporadic access during the Syrian conflict.
</P>


Prior to the armed conflict in Syria, which began in March 2011,
Yarmouk was home to over 160,000 Palestine refugees. Since December
2012, fighting has caused at least 140,000 Palestine refugees to flee
their homes in Yarmouk, as armed opposition groups established a
presence in the area, with Government forces controlling the
periphery.
<div id="EmbedPhotoRight" style="width:260px;height:270px;">
<"/News/dh/photos/large/2014/March/03-21-2014-UNRWA-TimeSquareB.jpg"
class="lightbox" title="A silent Flash Mob Vigil in Times Square New
York in support of Palestinians in Damascus and civilians across
Syria. Photo: Smita Sharma for unrwa.org" rel="gallery-default"><img
class="Embed" src="/News/dh/photos/large/2014/March/03-21-2014-UNRWA-TimeSquareB.jpg"
style="width:250px;height:167px;">
<p class="phtocaption2">A silent Flash Mob Vigil in Times Square New
York in support of Palestinians in Damascus and civilians across
Syria. Photo: Smita Sharma for unrwa.org</p>
</div>
</P>


After UNRWA released the photo in February, the image went "viral"
and was shared millions of times via social media. UNRWA Spokesperson
Christopher Gunness has said the image is "cinematic in scope,"
starkly revealing "vignettes of inhumanity" that have become the daily
lives of those suffering in Yarmouk and, ultimately, throughout Syria.
</P>


"When an image embodies the collective conscience of its time in a
manner that is at once universally epic and deeply personal, it takes
on a transformative power of its own."
</P>


Mr. Gunness said that the international social media campaign built
around the photo, which kicked off earlier this week with a
Thunderclap - reached almost double its target of 23 million, the
pre-war population of Syria.
</P>


The broader #LetUsThrough initiative generated over 38.5 million
social media impressions and reached over 26 million people, demanding
humanitarian access to what the UN estimates are 10 million people in
Syria who need assistance, including 5 million children.
<div id="EmbedPhotoRight" style="width:260px;height:270px;">
<"/News/dh/photos/large/2014/March/03-21-2014-UNRWA-TimeSquare.jpg"
class="lightbox" title="The showing in Times Square was twinned and
the campaign image and message been projected in Tokyo's Shubyia
district on the same day. Photo: unrwa.org" rel="gallery-default"><img
class="Embed" src="/News/dh/photos/large/2014/March/03-21-2014-UNRWA-TimeSquare.jpg"
style="width:250px;height:167px;">
<p class="phtocaption2">The showing in Times Square was twinned and
the campaign image and message been projected in Tokyo's Shubyia
district on the same day. Photo: unrwa.org</p>
</div>
</P>


"This is the expression of a groundswell of revulsion felt around the
world for the profound suffering this pitiless conflict is inflicting
on millions of besieged, innocent civilians in Syria; women, children,
the elderly, the sick, the dying," said Mr. Gunness.
</P>


"It was a moving act of symbolism that the image went up at the two
corners of the earth and close to the UN in New York, sending a
powerful message from the ordinary people of the world to the
diplomatic community that we have had enough of the immense suffering
resulting from a conflict that is moving into its fourth tragic year,"
he added.
<div id="EmbedPhotoLeft" style="width:260px;height:270px;">
<"/News/dh/photos/large/2014/February/02-26-unrwa-yarmouk.jpg"
class="lightbox" title="Yarmouk residents gather to await food
distribution from UNRWA in January 2014. Photo: UNRWA Archives"
rel="gallery-default"><img class="Embed"
src="/News/dh/photos/large/2014/February/02-26-unrwa-yarmouk.jpg"
style="width:250px;height:167px;">
<p class="phtocaption2">Yarmouk residents gather to await food
distribution from UNRWA in January 2014. Photo: UNRWA Archives</p>
</div>
</P>


The screenings came as UNRWA announced it has gained access to
Yarmouk camp, and had delivered, since 18 January, 8,728 food parcels.
"This is not enough," said Mr. Gunness, recalling that the UN Security
Council unanimously adopted a resolution in late February demanding
the parties grant immediate humanitarian access and has threatened
further action if there is non-compliance.
</P>


"We hope that a combination of the iconic power of this image, the
expressed concern of global citizenry and the unanimous voice of the
Security Council will make a real difference and bring an end to all
this needless suffering," he said.
</P>Mar 21 2014 2:00PM
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