Syria crisis at Security Council: OCHA highlights impact of poor funding and heatwaves

Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria by Ramesh Rajasingham, Director, Coordination Division, OCHA, on behalf of Joyce Msuya, acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

As delivered

Mr. President, Members of the Security Council,

Syria continues to suffer its worst humanitarian crisis since the start of the conflict more than 13 years ago.

Across the country, over 16 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, the vast majority of them women and children. 

Some 7.2 million people remain displaced from their homes following years of conflict, while hostilities continue to harm civilians and disrupt their access to essential services.

The impact of the conflict, alongside associated economic hardship, pressures from climate change, and severely reduced humanitarian funding, and the absence of development programming for basic services, is never more stark than during these hottest months of the year.

Earlier this month, the UN’s Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria – Mr. Adam Abdelmoula – visited the north-eastern governorate of Al-Hasakeh – where temperatures were exceeding 40 degrees. 

Many of the people there have seen a significant reduction in the humanitarian assistance they had relied on due to significant funding cuts.

People’s access to water has been curtailed due to decreased rainfall, compounded by the impact of conflict and the economic crisis on water and electricity infrastructure.

Now, they must also contend with water-borne diseases, many of which could have been prevented with basic water and sanitation infrastructure. 

Pregnant or breastfeeding women; young children; those with disabilities; and adolescent girls are disproportionately affected. Coupled with overcrowding and lack of privacy, water scarcity directly impacts women’s ability to safely manage their hygiene, including their menstrual hygiene, thereby increasing risks of contracting water-borne diseases. 

Amina, a woman who has been living in the detention-like Al-Hol camp with her three children for the past two years, told RC/HC Abdelmoula:

We often go days without enough clean water for drinking, cooking or washing. The high temperatures make the situation even worse. My children are constantly thirsty, and it’s heartbreaking to see them suffer. 

Mr. President,

The UN and our partners are doing what we can to help people meet their most basic water needs. 

In Al-Hasakeh, partner organisations have installed 16 water treatment stations, each serving thousands of people.

Following the cross-line assessment mission last month, planning continues for the repair of Alouk water station, which serves upwards of 600,000 people in Al-Hasakeh. 

And, with support from the Syria Humanitarian Fund, work is ongoing to repair the Ein El-Baydah water station that supplies the area of Al Bab in Aleppo. 

In Quneitra, the World Food Programme has rehabilitated irrigation systems to support local agriculture.

Across the country, more than 3.5 million people received water, sanitation, and hygiene assistance in the first quarter of this year.

But funding shortfalls are seriously constraining our ability to maintain – let alone scale up – these activities. 

More than halfway through the year, the Humanitarian Response Plan is barely 20 per cent funded. 

To give an example of the implications, in north-west Syria, our partners tell us that more than 900,000 people are not getting the critical water and sanitation support they need, more than half of them children. 

As climate change makes heatwaves ever more frequent, these challenges will only grow. 

And, as we have shown, the U.N. and partners have the right capacity, expertise and reach to scale up programming as soon as more funding is made available.

I urge donors to provide the funding we need to support the people of Syria as they face crisis upon crisis, year after year. 

Mr. President,

For the millions of people in north-west Syria now enduring extreme heat on top of years of conflict and displacement, the cross-border operation from Türkiye remains a critical lifeline.

We welcome the Government of Syria’s decision to extend permission for the UN to use the Bab al-Hawa crossing point to deliver humanitarian assistance for an additional six months, until January 13th, 2025. 

This is the second such extension for Bab al-Hawa since February 2023, when the Government first permitted the United Nations to conduct cross-border operations into north-west Syria.

Over the past year, nearly 2,000 trucks carrying UN aid have crossed from Türkiye to north-west Syria through the Bab Al-Hawa, Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra'ee border crossings. 

They have also allowed UN staff to make regular visits to north-west Syria to ensure our programmes are effectively meeting people’s needs. 

Despite an overall reduction in aid due to underfunding, the border crossings have been instrumental in enabling critical assistance and protection services to more than one million vulnerable people every month.

Given the scale of needs, it also remains critical to continue efforts to scale up the use of cross-line assistance. 

In this regard, we remain concerned by the ongoing delays in planned missions in the north-west and north-east – a reminder of the challenges unresolved conflicts pose to the predictable flow of aid. 

We are nevertheless hopeful that a cross-line mission to Idleb will go ahead next month – the first in over a year. And that planned movements to Ras Al Ain and Tell Abiad – including to the Alouk water station – can also proceed soon.

Mr. President, 

The deep vulnerabilities exposed by the extreme summer temperatures in Syria emphasise just how important it is to ensure the flow of humanitarian assistance to people in need. This requires unhindered humanitarian access and the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure. It also requires more funding.

These vulnerabilities also demonstrate the critical need to increase investment in early recovery efforts across the country. 

Without improvements in the overall situation, we may well see many of the Syrians who represent the future of the country choosing to leave, adding to the millions of refugees in the region and beyond.

More than anything, these vulnerabilities yet again underscore the need for urgent progress on a political solution to end the conflict. 

I once again urge the Security Council to support the parties and Special Envoy Pedersen in securing a definitive end to this crisis.