Syria appeal is biggest in UN history
Growing number of refugees prompts $5bn appeal, but fears remain that scale of crisis may have been underestimated
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A demonstration at the
Zaatari refugee camp, where about 20,000 children are not in school.
Syria's humanitarian crisis is growing. Photograph: Khalil
Mazraawi/AFP/Getty
The UN has launched the largest emergency appeal in its history –
$5bn (£3.2bn) – as it warned that half the population will need
humanitarian aid by the end of the year.
The civil war in Syria has led to the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world amid a conflict in which hospitals, schools and water and sanitation infrastructure have been targeted.
But some fear that the $5bn appeal will not be enough as aid agencies have struggled to keep pace with the three-year crisis which has left more than 80,000 people dead.
"Unfortunately, several of the former appeals for the humanitarian response inside Syria and in neighbouring countries have underestimated the scale of the crisis," said Toril Brekke, acting secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
The humanitarian situation has deteriorated rapidly since last year. From 1 million people needing assistance in April last year, the number now stands at 6.8 million as of this April. This includes 4.25 million Syrians who are internally displaced and more than 1.6 million refugees, concentrated in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The number of people in need is expected to rise to 10 million by the end of the year.
"We are witnessing the daily human wreckage of a country tearing itself apart," said Jane Cocking, humanitarian director of Oxfam. "Our common humanity implores us to respond to the suffering of millions of Syrians caught up in an unremitting tragedy. Even in harsh economic times there can be no excuses for governments to shirk their duty to dig deep and generously fund the aid effort. They cannot look the other way. This is the world's most pressing humanitarian crisis."
The lack of funding has posed serious problems. In Zaatari camp, Jordan, there are two schools running with 10,000 children attending. However, there are about 30,000 children of school age at the camp. A third school is being built that will be able to accommodate 5,000 children. However, there is no money to keep it running, no money for teachers' salaries, nor furniture.
Heavy fighting in the central Syrian town of Qusair, which was captured on Wednesday by government forces supported by the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah, has sparked another wave of displacement. The UN estimates that 40,000 fled the town last month to the Hasiya area, about 25km from Qusair.
The humanitarian situation in Hasiya was described by the UN as dire, with many families sheltering in three schools and in various unfinished buildings and makeshift tents. Many displaced children suffer from diarrhoea, respiratory infections, high fever, ear infections and skin diseases, due to poor sanitation and hygiene.
In April, the heads of five major UN agencies issued a rare joint appeal to the international community to do more to end "cruelty and carnage" in Syria. The heads of the World Health Organisation, Unicef, the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme and the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, urged political leaders to use their influence to solve the crisis and criticised what they described as "an insufficient sense of urgency among the governments and parties that could put a stop to the cruelty and carnage in Syria".
On Thursday, the British government hosted a meeting in London of the core of the Friends of Syria group to discuss preparations for the Geneva II peace conference, which has been postponed until at least July because of difficulties in convening it.
The Syrian government has said it will attend the peace conference. However, the opposition is in disarray, divided over whether to take part in any negotiations while Assad's departure is not recognised as a precondition. Western diplomats acknowledge that the capture of Qusair is likely to have emboldened President Bashar al-Assad, making him less likely to consider concessions – let alone stepping down.
"What the UN today announced was the price tag of our collective political failure to end this conflict," said Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children. "But money alone will not be enough: the international community must make securing better access for aid agencies to the worst affected areas of Syria an urgent priority."
The UN appeal for Syria dwarfs past emergency requests such as those for the 2011 Horn of Africa food crisis ($2.5bn), the 2010 Haiti earthquake ($1.5bn), and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami ($1.28bn).
"In January, the world came together in Kuwait to show ordinary Syrians in desperate need that they have not been forgotten," said Justine Greening, the international development secretary. "The response then was impressive, but as this crisis continues it is clear that even more is needed."
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The civil war in Syria has led to the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world amid a conflict in which hospitals, schools and water and sanitation infrastructure have been targeted.
But some fear that the $5bn appeal will not be enough as aid agencies have struggled to keep pace with the three-year crisis which has left more than 80,000 people dead.
"Unfortunately, several of the former appeals for the humanitarian response inside Syria and in neighbouring countries have underestimated the scale of the crisis," said Toril Brekke, acting secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
The humanitarian situation has deteriorated rapidly since last year. From 1 million people needing assistance in April last year, the number now stands at 6.8 million as of this April. This includes 4.25 million Syrians who are internally displaced and more than 1.6 million refugees, concentrated in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The number of people in need is expected to rise to 10 million by the end of the year.
"We are witnessing the daily human wreckage of a country tearing itself apart," said Jane Cocking, humanitarian director of Oxfam. "Our common humanity implores us to respond to the suffering of millions of Syrians caught up in an unremitting tragedy. Even in harsh economic times there can be no excuses for governments to shirk their duty to dig deep and generously fund the aid effort. They cannot look the other way. This is the world's most pressing humanitarian crisis."
The lack of funding has posed serious problems. In Zaatari camp, Jordan, there are two schools running with 10,000 children attending. However, there are about 30,000 children of school age at the camp. A third school is being built that will be able to accommodate 5,000 children. However, there is no money to keep it running, no money for teachers' salaries, nor furniture.
Heavy fighting in the central Syrian town of Qusair, which was captured on Wednesday by government forces supported by the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah, has sparked another wave of displacement. The UN estimates that 40,000 fled the town last month to the Hasiya area, about 25km from Qusair.
The humanitarian situation in Hasiya was described by the UN as dire, with many families sheltering in three schools and in various unfinished buildings and makeshift tents. Many displaced children suffer from diarrhoea, respiratory infections, high fever, ear infections and skin diseases, due to poor sanitation and hygiene.
In April, the heads of five major UN agencies issued a rare joint appeal to the international community to do more to end "cruelty and carnage" in Syria. The heads of the World Health Organisation, Unicef, the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme and the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, urged political leaders to use their influence to solve the crisis and criticised what they described as "an insufficient sense of urgency among the governments and parties that could put a stop to the cruelty and carnage in Syria".
On Thursday, the British government hosted a meeting in London of the core of the Friends of Syria group to discuss preparations for the Geneva II peace conference, which has been postponed until at least July because of difficulties in convening it.
The Syrian government has said it will attend the peace conference. However, the opposition is in disarray, divided over whether to take part in any negotiations while Assad's departure is not recognised as a precondition. Western diplomats acknowledge that the capture of Qusair is likely to have emboldened President Bashar al-Assad, making him less likely to consider concessions – let alone stepping down.
"What the UN today announced was the price tag of our collective political failure to end this conflict," said Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children. "But money alone will not be enough: the international community must make securing better access for aid agencies to the worst affected areas of Syria an urgent priority."
The UN appeal for Syria dwarfs past emergency requests such as those for the 2011 Horn of Africa food crisis ($2.5bn), the 2010 Haiti earthquake ($1.5bn), and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami ($1.28bn).
"In January, the world came together in Kuwait to show ordinary Syrians in desperate need that they have not been forgotten," said Justine Greening, the international development secretary. "The response then was impressive, but as this crisis continues it is clear that even more is needed."
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