UN: Act now to prevent Syria's humanitarian crisis worsening
A UN official has warned the Security Council to ensure aid to Syria was properly funded and delivered to those trapped by conflict to prevent the humanitarian crisis worsening.
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Only one quarter of Syrian refugees' basic needs have been funded [Getty]
A senior UN official has appealed to the UN Security Council to stop the humanitarian crisis in Syria from getting any worse.
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Kyung-Wha Kang said that the international community had only funded one quarter of the life-saving aid required by the 12.2 million Syrians out of a pre-war population of 22 million in need.
She added that the ongoing conflict in Syria was putting aid deliveries to an estimated 4.8 million Syrians at risk.
"Over the past month, this violence, which is perpetrated by all parties to the conflict, has neither abated nor diminished in brutality," Kang observed.
"The 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 (UNOCHA), four million Syrians have sought refuge abroad and, as of October 2014, 7.6 million others have been forced to flee their homes. UNOCHA has not updated the number since.
More than 230,000 people have been killed in the conflict, now in its fifth year. More than a million people have been injured i the ongoing violence.
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Kyung-Wha Kang said that the international community had only funded one quarter of the life-saving aid required by the 12.2 million Syrians out of a pre-war population of 22 million in need.
She added that the ongoing conflict in Syria was putting aid deliveries to an estimated 4.8 million Syrians at risk.
"Over the past month, this violence, which is perpetrated by all parties to the conflict, has neither abated nor diminished in brutality," Kang observed.
"The 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 (UNOCHA), four million Syrians have sought refuge abroad and, as of October 2014, 7.6 million others have been forced to flee their homes. UNOCHA has not updated the number since.
More than 230,000 people have been killed in the conflict, now in its fifth year. More than a million people have been injured i the ongoing violence.
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