Ms. Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator - Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria, 28 August 2024

New York, 28 August 2024

As delivered

Mr. President, Members of the Security Council,

The people of Syria continue to face a profound humanitarian crisis.

More than 16 million people – over 70 per cent of the population – require assistance.

Three-quarters are women and children.

And [as Mr. Pedersen has just set out], the recent escalation of hostilities in the north-east, along with regular attacks in the north-west and other places, continue to deepen people’s suffering.

Since the 6th of August, at least 25 civilians have been killed because of the fighting in Deir ez-Zor.

An estimated 3,500 families were forced to flee their homes, although the majority have since been able to return.

Critical public infrastructure has been affected, including water treatment facilities, adding to the ongoing water crisis.

And the fighting has restricted the movement of civilians and aid workers, including through the closure of Euphrates River crossings.

Access to parts of Hasakeh and Qamishli cities was restricted for nearly a week, disrupting water and food assistance to more than 100,000 people.

And the restrictions have caused a further increase in the prices of food, fuel and other critical items.

Respect for international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, and unhindered humanitarian access, remains essential.

Mr. President,

Displacement persists at staggeringly high levels.

More than 6 million Syrians continue to live as refugees or asylum-seekers outside Syria’s borders – many of them in neighboring countries.

Within Syria, some 7.2 million people – or nearly a third of the population – are displaced, most of them for over a decade.

Every one of Syria’s 14 governorates hosts people displaced by the conflict, with all but three hosting more than 100,000 people.

Women and girls are particularly affected. In northern Syria, female-headed households report being unable to meet their basic needs at twice the rate of male-headed households.

Many of the displaced live in tents or overcrowded informal settlements and have been forced to move multiple times. People like a 23-year-old woman in Aleppo – we will call her Rosheen – whose family was forced to move multiple times in search of safety until arriving at a displacement camp.

Mr. President,

The majority of displaced people across Syria depend on humanitarian assistance for their most basic needs.

They are therefore among the worst affected by the alarming shortfall in humanitarian funding.

Nearly nine months into the year, less than $1 billion of the $4.1 billion required for the response has been received.

As a result, food assistance and water services had to be cut. The World Food Programme reports that many families are eating smaller portions, skipping meals, and have a less diverse diet, putting them at risk of malnutrition.

Negative coping mechanisms – including forced and child marriage, and child labor – have also risen.

Water trucking services for internally displaced people have had to be scaled back, affecting – for example – at least 50,000 people in Tel Refaat.

Without an increase in funding, nearly 200 camps in the north-west will be cut off from water and sanitation support by next month, affecting nearly 250,000 camp residents – most of them women and children.

And by the end of the year, some 230 health facilities – half of the functional health facilities in the north-west, including maternal and children’s hospitals – are heading towards full or partial closure, affecting access to lifesaving and emergency healthcare for over a million people.

Beyond life-saving assistance, greater investment in early recovery projects is also critical to providing more sustainable solutions to the displacement crisis.

Such a project has provided agricultural inputs to people returning to their homes in Deir ez-Zor, to help restore their livelihoods

For the same reasons, the OCHA-administered Syria Cross-border Humanitarian Fund is supporting an early recovery and livelihood project which aims to provide professional training and to rehabilitate markets and schools.

We urge donors to redouble their efforts for the humanitarian response, including for early recovery.

Mr. President,

Nearly half of those displaced in Syria are in Idleb and northern Aleppo.

For these people, the cross-border operation from Türkiye remains a lifeline. It not only facilitates the passage of relief supplies, but also assessment visits by UN staff to ensure the efficient and effective distribution of assistance.

We welcome the Government of Syria’s extension of permission to use the Bab al-Salam and Al Ra’ee crossings for a further three months. We hope that the use of these crossings – alongside Bab al-Hawa – will remain available as long as current levels of need persist.

Given the scale of these needs, we will also continue efforts to expand the use of cross-line routes to reach under-served areas in the north-west, and in other parts of the country.

We remain concerned by persistent challenges to carrying out planned cross-line missions.

Mr. President,

We cannot afford to lose focus on Syria.

The UN and its partners continue to provide critical assistance to millions of people every month.

But as humanitarian needs continue to reach record levels, we need a significant increase in humanitarian funding. And much more investment in early recovery projects to help rebuild livelihoods, reduce dependency on aid and provide solutions to the displacement crisis.

However, the key to a sustainable solution is a definitive end to the conflict – all the more so given the concerns about insecurity in the wider region.

We have already seen growing numbers of people migrating out of Syria; increased activity by armed groups such as ISIL; and an increase in trafficking.

I therefore once again urge the Security Council to support the parties and Special Envoy Pedersen in securing genuine progress towards a lasting peace.