Senior UN official calls for political solution to humanitarian crisis in Syria

A senior UN official on Monday called for political solution to the long-standing Syrian crisis, characterized by obstructed humanitarian access to civilians trapped by the Syrian conflict and a shortfall in critical funding.

While briefing the UN Security Council on the current humanitarian situation in Syria, Kyung-Wha Kang, the UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the current situation in the Middle East country is "challenging" despite the international community's efforts to find a political solution to the crisis caused by the conflict in Syria, which broke out in March 2011.

Violence continues with "utter impunity" leading to a spiraling deterioration of the crisis, she said.

"Over the past month, this violence, which is perpetrated by all parties to the conflict, has neither abated nor diminished in brutality," Kang noted, adding that the warring parties "continue to violate human rights and international humanitarian law with impunity -- killing and torturing civilians, blocking humanitarian access, destroying and besieging communities."

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the situation in Syria is increasingly dire as critical relief efforts stutter, impeded by the fighting, shifting frontlines and the rise of extremist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Jabhat Al- Nusra, and Jaysh Al-Islam.

In its latest situation report, OCHA warned that some 12 million people in the Middle Eastern country, including 5.6 million children, remain in need of humanitarian assistance at present -- a 12-fold increase since 2011.

The humanitarian impact of the crisis is only further compounded by the grim human toll which, as of today, counts more than 220,000 people killed and over one million injured since hostilities began.

Despite the extremely challenging environment, humanitarian organizations operating within Syria and from neighboring countries are continuing to reach millions of people in need, according to Kang.

Due to depleted funds, however, food assistance across the region is now in jeopardy and the tenuous situation inside the country has made access to the 4.8 million people hard to reach and besieged locations "a serious challenge," she said.

"Given the fluid and dynamic nature of the conflict in Syria, it is crucial for UN agencies to be able to use any and every route, across borders and conflict lines, to reach those who require assistance," said the deputy UN relief chief. "But these efforts require adequate resources. Only a quarter of the appeal for life saving work in Syria and the region is funded today."

The humanitarian challenges facing the United Nations and other aid agencies are further impaired by the regular and indiscriminate use of barrel bombs by government forces as well as attacks on medical facilities and the continued use of explosive weapons in populated towns and cities.

"For the people of Syria and humanitarians who assist them, it is hard to see an end to this nightmare of violence and destruction," Kang said. "We look to the leadership of this Council to press for a political solution."

On April 24, the 15-nation Security Council expressed grave alarm at the deterioration of Syria's humanitarian situation and demanded that all parties to the Syrian conflict put an immediate end to all forms of violence.

According to a presidential statement adopted by the council at a meeting on Syria, more than 220,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the conflict, including well over 10,000 children. Around half of the population have been forced to seek refuge in neighboring countries.

Syrian crisis has become the largest humanitarian emergency crisis in the world today, threatening peace and security in the region, with diverse implications on neighboring countries and displacement of millions of Syrians into those countries, said the statement.