LOC20:44
17:44 GMT
NEW YORK, Aug 27 (KUNA) -- More than quarter of a million people have been killed since the Syrian conflict began, and more than a million injured, announced the UN Emergency Relief Chief on Thursday.
During a briefing session held at the Security Council this morning, the Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien told the members that some 7.6 million people have been displaced inside Syria, and more than four million people have fled the country.
In the name of both security as well as humanity, the UN official affirmed the need to find a better, more sustainable way forward for the wider international community to share the burden in hosting Syrian refugees.
With violence escalating across the country in the past month, O'Brien noted that indiscriminate and targeted attacks by all parties to the conflict have resulted in loss of life, destruction of infrastructure and access to basic services have been denied to hundreds of thousands of Syrians.
Referring to attacks on civilians as "unlawful, unacceptable and must stop," the UN official appealed to every party engaged in violence and fighting to "protect civilians." All parties involved in violations of international humanitarian law must be held to account, he stressed.
O'Brien, who recently visited Syria, said that despite the increasingly challenging environment, millions of people have continued to receive aid, but he expressed concern over the severely limited access to the 4.6 million people living in hard-to-reach and besieged areas.
Nevertheless, the Humanitarian Chief urged Council members to do everything in their power to end this crisis. "With all the will in the world, humanitarian action cannot be a substitute for political action," he said, adding that the Council must exert leadership to push for a political solution.
O'Brian will be traveling to Turkey and Jordan in September, where he will be able to see the ongoing response efforts to meet the needs of the refugees and the communities hosting them. (end)
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