UN: ‘Syria’s devastation finds few parallels in recent history’
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths expressed on Thursday that Syria’s “devastation finds few parallels in recent history.”
Briefing the United Nations (UN) Security Council on the situation in Syria, Griffiths announced: “This month marks eleven years of war, destruction, and humanitarian crisis for the people of Syria. Such devastation finds few parallels in recent history.”
Griffiths stated: “Over 350,000 people have been killed and nearly 14 million people have been displaced from their homes. Basic services have been destroyed. Five million children born since the start of the conflict have known nothing but hardship and nothing but war.”
He added: “Civilians continue to be killed and injured along front line areas of northwest and northeast Syria,” citing that 18 civilians were killed in northwest Syria in February.
Giving an example of the horrific scenes in Syria, he conveyed: “We continue to be concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Al-Hol, where some 56,000 people live. Incidents resulting in death and injury, including of children, continue.”
Griffiths called for affording protection for the people in the camp, stating: “We need to maintain the civilian character of the camp. I take this opportunity once more to call for the full repatriation of third-country nationals from camps in northeast Syria. As we reported here last month, 14.6 million people are in need of humanitarian aid – more than at any time since the start of the conflict.”
He added that the “crippling economic crisis continues to push humanitarian needs to new heights,” warning that the war in Ukraine, which is leading to soaring food and energy prices globally, might “have a negative impact on the region, including in Syria.”
“Mines and explosive ordnance killed 805 people in Syria in 2021 and injured nearly 3,000 more. Around half of the population in Syria is estimated to live in areas contaminated with explosive ordnance. Again, a shocking figure. At present, one-third of Syrian households receive less than two hours of electricity a day. Public services, of course, are similarly underserved.”
The UN official concluded: “Ultimately, now more than ever, we need action to show the people of Syria that they are not forgotten as they fear that they are and to deliver aid that is so urgently needed by communities, those families, those statistics.”
Source: Middle East Monitor
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