Summary:
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The number of those in need currently stands at 14.6 million, up 1.2 million from 2021, and is predicted to rise to 15.3 million the following year.
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Millions of Syrians have been displaced by the war, and two million still live there even through the bitterly cold winter.
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Renewing international aid with almost 60,000 cases and 100 fatalities, cholera also returned to the nation this year.
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A Security Council resolution that lets humanitarian aid be sent from Turkey into northwest Syria will end in a few weeks.
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Mr. Griffiths pleaded for ongoing assistance.
The ambassadors heard from UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen and UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator Martin Griffiths. They stressed how important it was to give Syrians hope.
The number of those in need currently stands at 14.6 million, up 1.2 million from 2021, and is predicted to rise to 15.3 million the following year.
Mr. Pedersen says, “The humanitarian and economic crisis in Syria is getting worse, both inside and outside the country, and in both government-controlled and non-government areas, where the situation is still the worst, especially in refugee camps.”
A dismal scene
According to the UN representative, while resources are getting scarcer, requirements are growing.
While many people lack access to clean water and healthcare, electricity and fuel are more limited than ever.
State agencies have had to close for many days due to energy shortages, and the Syrian pound has dropped to new record lows.
Even those who previously did not require assistance because they were paid regularly now do.
There is a chance of “catastrophic degeneration.”
The threat of a catastrophic worsening is all too real, Mr. Pedersen warned. “This bleak humanitarian and economic situation is bad enough, but the long-running war and the threat of more fighting make it even worse.”
He said there are still “dangerous dynamics” even though neither side has taken any significant military actions.
Reports of airstrikes in support of the government have come from the northwest, Turkey in the north, and Israel in Damascus and the southwest.
Also, “the whole range of parties” in the conflict have sometimes fought, fired rockets, and shelled each other on the contact lines, and the terrorist group ISIL has kept attacking the different sides.
Six-point list
The Council was urged by Mr. Pedersen to “change these disturbing dynamics.” He presented the council with a six-point agenda and requested support for it.
“I will stop at nothing to make progress on this incredibly tough conflict in the upcoming year.” “We must instill future optimism in Syrians,” he insisted.
His first suggestion was to keep things from getting worse and to try to restore some calm.
The ambassador pleaded with the Council to update its plan so that all Syrians in need of aid might get it without restriction and through any method.
He also said that the Syrian Constitutional Committee had to start meeting again and have better things to talk about.
Detainees and the missing
His fourth point was about how he keeps trying to get information and free people who have been jailed, disappeared, or gone missing.
“The fifth point,” Mr. Pedersen said, referring to interactions with Syrian stakeholders and foreign actors, “is to move the conversation toward defining and putting into action early step-by-step measures to build trust.”
If this were done, I think it could start to make a difference in the lives of regular Syrians, change some of the unfavorable dynamics, and increase confidence and trust between the parties and in the political process.
In his final comment, Mr. Pedersen talked about how important it is to work with Syrian civil society, especially the Women’s Advisory Board.
Battling for survival
In response to the huge number of needs, Mr. Griffiths said that most Syrian families either have trouble meeting their needs or can’t do so at all.
Over half of the population, or 12 million people, struggle to put food on the table.
A further three million people might experience food insecurity.
Millions of Syrians have been displaced by the war, and two million still live there, even through the bitterly cold winter.
Renew international aid
With almost 60,000 cases and 100 fatalities, cholera also returned to the nation this year.
A Security Council resolution that lets humanitarian aid be sent from Turkey into northwest Syria will expire in a few weeks.
Mr. Griffiths pleaded for ongoing assistance.
“I can’t emphasize enough how crucial it is to keep up this lifeline for the millions of people who live in the Northwest,” he said. Putting off the renewal of that resolution puts people in danger of not getting help when they need it the most.
