LOC09:03
06:03 GMT
NEW YORK, Feb 27 (KUNA) -- Kuwait has generously agreed to host a third pledging conference for Syrians in need on March, a high-level representation at that conference and meaningful pledges that will make a difference on the ground are needed, OCHA representative told UN Security Council.
Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Kyung-Wha Kang, speaking before the Security Council, on behalf of USG and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos urged the members to show leadership to end the "barbaric and brutal warfare" in Syria.
"We are running out of words to describe the terrible human and humanitarian consequences," she expressed.
Kang, who is also the Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, noted that Syria enters its fifth year of conflict, violence and brutality continue unabated and with total impunity.
The indiscriminate use of explosive weapons in populated areas, by all parties, claimed more lives this month and displaced thousands, she confirmed.
She told the Council that the Government aerial bombardments, including the use of barrel bombs, and attacks by armed opposition groups have intensified in many areas - including Aleppo, Dar'a and Rural Damascus.
The parties to the conflict, she said, continue to kill civilians and target civilians and civilian infrastructure, including vital public services such as water and electricity, in blatant disregard of resolution 2139, and international humanitarian law, condemning people to further unnecessary suffering.
Over two million people in Aleppo and Dar'a Governorates have been affected by willful denial of water and electricity by parties to the conflict this month, she sadly confirmed.
Every month OCHA reports on the same violations, yet, the numbers change, but the pattern remains the same, she said. The parties to the conflict continue to act with impunity: killing and abducting civilians; denying access; removing vital supplies from convoys. "This pattern must be broken," she added.
To be specific, Kang said the sieges that currently affect 212,000 people must be lifted. Everyone in all parts of Syria, must have access to medical supplies, including surgical supplies. The use of blockades of humanitarian aid, and of basic services including water and electricity, must stop, she voiced. As must the indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including through barrel bombs, which have come to characterize this conflict, she said.
On his part, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, who flew in to brief the Council, he stressed that the upcoming Kuwait III conference will play a determining role in stabilizing the situation in the refugee hosting countries.
Beyond the immediate humanitarian priorities, he said, it is crucial that development actors fund the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan. Countries like Lebanon and Jordan need much more financial assistance - not only to local refugee hosting communities, but also through government budget support for necessary structural investments in health systems, education, water supply, electricity and other public infrastructure cracking under the huge pressure, he confirmed.
Syrians are now the biggest refugee population under UNHCR's mandate, where 3.8 million are registered in the neighboring countries, he said. As their number keeps growing and they become more vulnerable, the serious repercussions this has across the region only highlight the obvious - the urgent need for the international community to bring together all key actors and put an end to the conflict in Syria, Guterres added. "There are no winners in this war; everyone is losing."
Furthermore, the French Permanent Representative to the UN Francois Delattre said that Assad's brutal repression and refusal of any transition in the last four years promoted extremism and chaos. "As long as Assad will remain in power, Daesh will continue to strengthen," he said.
The United Nations rapid reengagement to relaunch the political process in Syria is primordial.
UK, US, Jordan as well as other member states of the Council commended Kuwait's leadership for the upcoming Humanitarian pledging conference, and called donors to make generous commitments. (end)
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