Senior United Nations officials warned the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the world cannot afford to lose focus on Syria as the humanitarian and political crisis continues to devastate the country. Across the country, 16.7 million people - more than 70 percent of the population - are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, with women and children particularly affected.
Some 13.6 million people have been displaced from their homes. While 7.2 million women, men and children are internally displaced within their own country, the civil war has resulted in more than 6.4 million Syrian refugees, mostly in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Germany.
More than 13 years after the outbreak of the civil war, Syrians are living through one of the largest and most costly humanitarian crises in the world. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that the humanitarian response in Syria remains alarmingly underfunded.
The protracted conflict, deteriorating socio-economic conditions and the lingering effects of last year's earthquake have all contributed to exacerbating Syria's long-standing humanitarian crisis.
The August violence in Syria and the surrounding region has not only taken a heavy toll on civilians, but has also posed new threats to international peace and security, UN officials warned, as they expressed deep concern about the ongoing tense situation on many fronts in the country.
“Tensions in the region have reached dangerous new levels with a series of incidents,” Geir Pedersen, UN envoy for Syria, told the 15-member organ via video-link.
He cited recent violence in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan, Beirut, Tehran and cross-border fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. But Pedersen pointed out that Syria has not been spared from this escalation, citing Israeli airstrikes in Homs, Hama and Deraa that have resulted in civilian casualties, including children.
On the humanitarian front, the UN envoy welcomed the recent decision by the Government of Syria to extend the authorization for the use of the Bab al-Salam and al-Ra'ee border crossings. Unhindered access for aid is needed through all modalities, both cross-border and cross-line, he said.
Pedersen told Council members that the political process must be Syrian-owned and Syrian-led. However, he stressed that this would require the unified and cooperative support of key international actors.
The problems facing Syria cannot be addressed without a political process that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people and restores the country's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, he said.
“We have no illusion that any of this will be easy,” he said, also adding: “But it would be a mistake to conclude that it is impossible.”
Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, warned that the recent escalation of hostilities in the northeast, along with regular attacks in the northwest and elsewhere, continues to deepen the suffering of the population.
Since the beginning of August, at least 25 civilians have been killed in fighting in Deir ez-Zor governorate. An estimated 3,500 families have been forced to flee their homes, although most have now been able to return.
Critical public infrastructure has been affected, including water treatment facilities, exacerbating the ongoing water crisis. And the fighting has restricted the movement of civilians and aid workers, including by closing Euphrates River crossings, Msuya said.
Access to parts of the cities of Hasakeh and Qamishli has been restricted for nearly a week, cutting off water and food aid to more than 100,000 people. And the restrictions have led to further increases in the prices of food, fuel and other essential items, she warned.
“Displacement persists at staggeringly high levels,” Msuya said, noting that more than 6 million Syrians continue to live as refugees or asylum-seekers outside Syria’s borders, and that within Syria, some 7.2 million people are displaced.
“Every one of Syria’s 14 governorates hosts people displaced by the conflict, with all but three hosting more than 100,000 people.”
Many of the displaced live in tents or overcrowded informal settlements and have been forced to move multiple times.
“The majority of displaced people across Syria depend on humanitarian assistance for their most basic needs. They are therefore among the worst affected by the alarming shortfall in humanitarian funding,” she said.
The Syria Humanitarian Response Plan 2024 is the largest humanitarian funding appeal ever for a single country. Nine months into 2024, less than $1 billion of the $4.1 billion needed for the humanitarian response has been received.
“As a result, food assistance and water services had to be cut. The World Food Programme [WFP] reports that many families are eating smaller portions, skipping meals, and have a less diverse diet, putting them at risk of malnutrition,” the UN official said, adding that negative coping mechanisms such as forced and child marriage and child labor have also increased.
An estimated 15.4 million people in the country face acute food insecurity, 1.8 million people urgently need access to safe drinking water and more than 506,000 children require life-saving treatment for acute malnutrition.
“Water trucking services for internally displaced people have had to be scaled back, affecting – for example – at least 50,000 people in Tel Refaat,” Msuya said.
Without an increase in funding, nearly 200 camps in the northwest will be cut off from water and sanitation services by next month, affecting nearly 250,000 camp residents - most of them women and children.
“And by the end of the year, some 230 health facilities – half of the functional health facilities in the northwest, including maternal and children’s hospitals – are heading towards full or partial closure, affecting access to lifesaving and emergency healthcare for over a million people,” she added.
With nearly half of Syria's displaced living in Idleb and northern Aleppo, the cross-border operation from Turkey remains a lifeline for these people.
“It not only facilitates the passage of relief supplies, but also assessment visits by UN staff to ensure the efficient and effective distribution of assistance,” she said.
She welcomed the extension of the Government's permission to use the Bab al-Salam and Al Ra'ee crossings for another three months.
“We hope that the use of these crossings – alongside Bab al-Hawa – will remain available as long as current levels of need persist,“ Msuya said.
Over the past year, nearly 2,000 trucks carrying UN aid have entered northwestern Syria from Turkey through the Bab Al-Hawa, Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra'ee crossings. In July, the Syrian government had extended for six months its permission for the UN to deliver humanitarian aid through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, the main point of entry for humanitarian aid from Turkey into northwestern Syria.
The approval had marked the second extension of access for the UN to deliver cross-border aid through Bab al-Hawa since the UN was initially granted access in August 2023, after the UN Security Council (UNSC) failed to reauthorize a UNSC-sanctioned cross-border access mechanism in July 2023.
“We cannot afford to lose focus on Syria,” she said, calling for a significant increase in humanitarian funding as humanitarian needs continue to reach record levels. “And much more investment in early recovery projects to help rebuild livelihoods, reduce dependency on aid and provide solutions to the displacement crisis.”
However, she stressed that the key to a sustainable solution is a definitive end to the conflict – “all the more so given the concerns about insecurity in the wider region.”
“I therefore once again urge the Security Council to support the parties and Special Envoy Pedersen in securing genuine progress towards a lasting peace,” Msuya said.
Further information
Full text: Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria by Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, statement, released August 28, 2024
https://www.unocha.org/news/top-un-aid-official-warns-security-council-syrias-humanitarian-needs-record-levels