Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria, 24 March 2022

Madam President,

This month marks eleven years of war, destruction, and humanitarian crisis for the people of Syria. Such devastation finds few parallels in recent history.

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. These are terribly sobering figures.

Civilians continue to be killed and injured along front line areas of north-west and northeast Syria despite, as Geir [Pedersen] has been saying, there are no significant movements on those front lines. In February alone, 18 civilians were killed in north-west Syria, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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. The protection of camp residents, most of them women and children, must be front and centre. At the same time, 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 north-east Syria.

Madam President,

Each month the situation for Syrians becomes bleaker as Geir has also mentioned. This month is no different.

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.

Today’s crippling economic crisis continues to push humanitarian needs to new heights.

Very high level of food insecurity, with 12 million people considered food insecure, that figure is at risk of rising further. The Syrian pound is reaching record lows, reducing purchasing power.

The war in Ukraine is leading to soaring food and energy prices globally. But it is expected to have a negative impact on the region, including in Syria. Already, food prices have hit record highs each month over the last five months, so they have gone up, and up, and up. Basic commodities are expected to become less affordable, but also less available. Families are increasingly unable to cover basic expenses with their incomes, as we have discussed here before and there are only worse now. And all this exacerbates an already problematic humanitarian situation. Already, as many as one in four children in some areas are stunted, resulting in irreversible physical and cognitive harm.

Sadly, this also aggravates existing protection concerns. As in every crisis, the vulnerable suffer the most. For example, 71 per cent of communities have reported instances of child marriage; 84 per cent of those communities report the use of child labour.

Against this backdrop, while we focus on life-saving interventions, we must also intensify our early recovery efforts. People must be allowed to lead dignified lives and see a better life for themselves and their children.

We have seen positive work in early recovery across all sectors, from health to education to water and sanitation, including, Madame President, also from your authorities. Our 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan nearing finalization includes US$1.1 billion of projects, that [is] over 25 per cent of the overall request for humanitarian aid to Syria, that will go to early recovery and resilience, much more than it was the case last year.

So, 570 projects in that plan will focus on early recovery and resilience. This includes, for example, 66 per cent of education requirements, 45 per cent of water and sanitation and 22 per cent of health requirements. I am very pleased that the programming has increased on early recovery and resilience and of course we hope that it will also lead to generous funding.

One important component of early recovery programmes that needs to be expanded is mine clearance. 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.

Access to electricity is also critical to enable early recovery. 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 continues to engage with all parties on how to ensure the situation of ordinary Syrians, which I have been describing, is not further exacerbated by the unintended impact of sanctions.

Madam President,

We cannot fail the Syrian people. Yet that this is exactly what is the risk that faces us. There are two areas I would like highlight that may protect us from these risks:

First, we need funding, including for those early recovery programmes in particular. Last year, the Humanitarian Response Plan received 46 per cent funding. Itself a relatively good figure but in a very grim environment.

We are acutely aware of the rapidly rising humanitarian needs across the world, some due to man-made conflicts, others due to climatic shocks and extreme weather conditions. And with needs on the rise, the requirements for funding have skyrocketed. The funding environment is challenging but we cannot allow insufficient funding to be the cause of further hardship for Syrians, and in particular their children.

Secondly, we must ensure full humanitarian access to people in need, wherever they are. I echo the call of the Secretary-General to maintain consensus on renewing the resolution authorizing cross-border access for the United Nations and its partners. This Council has acted in unison on this issue since last July and it is my sincere hope, obviously that of the Secretary-General, that the same spirit of cooperation will remain on that issue.

We continue to work with all concerned parties to reinvigorate cross-line access to the north-west. It is not an easy task. I am hopeful that before the end of this month of March we will see another inter-agency convoy delivering aid to people in need in that area.

In the north-east, the United Nations must be able to coordinate the humanitarian response from within the country through our hub in Qamishli.

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.

Thank you, Madam President.