Pak Sahafat – The representative of the United Nations humanitarian affairs department told the members of the Security Council: The current scale of humanitarian needs in Syria is unprecedented even in the long and brutal history of the crisis in this country.
According to an Pak Sahafat News Agency’s reporter, Lisa Dugton, Director of Humanitarian Finance and Resource Mobilization, said Thursday evening local time on behalf of Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the Security Council: Nearly three months have passed since the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. The United Nations and its humanitarian partners continue to support Syrian reconstruction efforts.
He stated: This earthquake also emphasized the terrible reality that 12 years of armed conflict, increasing economic pressures, reduction of public services, and deterioration of critical infrastructure have left the Syrian population extremely vulnerable to shocks and stresses.
The UN official continued: Even before the earthquake, 15.3 million people in Syria, or more than half of the entire population, were in need of humanitarian assistance and protection support.
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He added: There are more than 6.9 million internally displaced people throughout Syria, many of whom have been displaced several times. About 80% of this population has now been displaced from their homes for at least five years.
He said: In northwestern Syria, UN agencies and their partners continue to use all three existing border crossings, Bab al-Havi, Bab al-Salam and al-Ra’i, to reach millions of people every month.
The Director of the UN Humanitarian Finance Department continued: The urgent request for financial aid to Syria has been almost fully funded and more than 384 million dollars of aid has been collected, but much more aid is needed.
He added: Syria’s humanitarian response plan is severely lacking in funds and only 363 million dollars have been collected out of 4.8 billion dollars required, and this is less than 8% of the total requirement.
The UN official added: Continued support from donors, local authorities, UN member states and the Security Council is essential to address Syria’s humanitarian needs.