UN relief leader warns of 'dire' humanitarian conditions in Syria despite greater aid access

The UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Stephen O'Brien, on Wednesday reported "dire" humanitarian conditions in Syria despite greater aid access in the war-torn country, saying that "the daily misery in these areas shames us all."

O'Brien, who is also the UN emergency relief coordinator, said in his briefing to the UN Security Council that there are signs of humanitarian progress in Syria with more aid reaching those in urgent need, but conditions remain "dire" throughout the Middle East country with only 30 percent of people in besieged areas reached and even fewer in hard-to-reach areas.

Inter-agency convoys have reached 150,000 people in 11 of the 18 besieged areas in Syria, said O'Brien, who welcomed the commitment by the government of Syria to simplify administrative procedures for cross-line convoys.

DREADFUL SITUATION

"We are a long way from the sustained, unconditional and unimpeded access that is required of the parties under international law and was and is demanded by this Council in its resolutions," said O'Brien.

Some 13.5 million people remain in need of humanitarian aid, with some 4.6 million in besieged and hard-to-reach areas, according to UN figures.

"The Syrian authorities continue not to give approval to certain locations," he said, mentioning three besieged areas of Duma, East Harasta and Darayya, which are mere minutes' drive away from UN warehouses in Damascus, the Syrian capital.

The situation is dreadful in these areas, particularly Darayya, where there are severe shortages of food, clean water, medicines, electricity and basic commodities, said the senior UN official.

"The daily misery in these areas shames us all," O'Brien said, adding that some people are forced to eat grass to subsist.

The top UN humanitarian official also noted many hard-to-reach areas, saying he was "deeply troubled" for the more than 210,000 civilians in northern rural Homs and the 15,000 people in neighbouring Habarnafse and surrounding communities in rural Huma.

"People in these areas have essentially no possibility to move in or out of the areas and have diminishing access to clean water, medical care, and food," he said.

PLIGHT OF SYRIANS

O'Brien also highlighted the plight of the estimated nearly two million people living in areas held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levans (ISIL), also known as the IS or ISIS, to which the United Nations has little or no access, and from where reports continue on widespread human rights abuses.

Even where there is access, convoys do not reach destinations intact, with more than 80,000 medical supplies and treatments removed from convoys in 2016. The items range from treatment for child malnutrition to medicine to prevent bleeding after child birth.

"I call on all parties, particularly the Syrian authorities, to allow for all necessary medical items and equipment, including surgical items, to be allowed onto the convoys," O'Brien said.

The UN relief chief also noted that all Syrians are suffering, given the destruction of schools and hospitals, the rising costs and shortages of basic items and services, and the devaluation of the currency.

HUMANITARIAN OBJECTIVES

"As humanitarians, our objective is not political and it is not military," Mr. O'Brien said. "It is about providing emergency aid and protection to people in desperate need and precarious circumstances, wherever they are in Syria."

He reiterated the call from 102 humanitarian agencies on March 15 for immediate and sustained access in Syria, including for support for a nationwide immunization campaign for children. He also stressed the resumption of political talks last week led by Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura and urged to rally behind the efforts to bring an end to the conflict in Syria.

O'Brien's remarks came as a one-day, high-level conference was taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, on Syrian refugees, at which senior UN officials stressed the needs to provide resettlement and other answers for their plight, urging third countries to share those responsibilities with Syria's immediate neighbors.

The Syrian crisis and the subsequent civil war broke out in March 2011, leading to a massive influx of Syrian refugees into Syria's neighboring countries, including Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan, and some European countries, such as Greece and Serbia.

"We are here to address the biggest refugee and displacement crisis of our time ... This demands an exponential increase in global solidarity," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the gathering at the United Nations in Geneva, attended by the representatives of 92 countries together with governmental and nongovernmental organizations.

Some 4.8 million Syrians have been forced to flee across borders by five years of war, while another 6.6 million are internally displaced. While talks are underway to find lasting peace, the UN secretary-general said more countries need to step up and provide solutions for Syrian refugees.

Wednesday's conference is one of several key events in 2016 organized to cope with Syria's refugees. It follows February's London Conference on Syria at which donors pledged 12 billion U.S. dollars to help those in need in Syria and in the surrounding region along with the needs of communities in host countries.