LOC02:59
23:59 GMT
NEW YORK, Jan 31 (KUNA) --- Deputy UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Ursula Mueller said Tuesday the relentless fighting in Syria continued to exact terrible toll on civilians.
Hostilities continues to drive hundreds of thousands from their homes and the number of displaced in the seemingly unending conflict continues to rise along with the suffering of affected communities, she said in briefing to the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in the war-torn country.
Mueller called on all parties to ensure the safety and protection of civilians caught up in the violence, noting that the situation is most concerning in north-west Syria where recent fighting has claimed many lives and forced over 270,000 civilians to flee for safety.
"Camps for the displaced are overstretched, forcing most of those displaced to seek shelter in some 160 makeshift settlements. During these cold and wet winter months, many families have nothing else than improvised tents which they share with others," she pointed out.
Elsewhere in Syria, fighting in Afrin (in Aleppo governorate) where on one hand, some 16,000 people have been displaced, but at the same time, civilian movement has reportedly been restricted by local authorities, particularly for those wishing to leave the area.
The situation is equally concerning in eastern Ghouta and in areas of Damascus where at least 81 civilians - including 25 women and 30 children - were killed in the first ten days of January.
According to estimates, altogether 13.1 million people are in need of protection and humanitarian assistance, including 6.1 million people who are displaced within the country and a further 5.5 million people have become refugees in neighbouring countries.
Mueller also informed the Security Council that although in late December, 29 patients in need of urgent medical care were allowed out of eastern Ghouta, hundreds more - most of them women and children - require immediate medical attention.
"So far, there have been 21 civilian deaths among those needing medical evacuation. Their needs are critical, and the law is clear," she said.
In the midst of the catastrophe, relief workers delivering life-saving assistance continue to face considerable challenges, including access to those in need of assistance.
Last month, none of the UN cross-line convoys could reach besieged locations and only two convoys reached hard-to-reach areas. This month, UN and partners have had no access to any such locations at all, stressed Mueller.
"Not one convoy has been able to deploy. Discussions about convoys have stalled over requirements to lower the number of beneficiaries, and splitting convoys in a way that would not allow us to provide food or other essential items," she said, noting also issues in other parts of the country preventing delivery of aid.
"Our deliveries must continue to be based on humanitarian principles and international humanitarian law, impartially based on civilian need," the senior UN official went on.
Noting five key areas where the UN is looking to make concrete progress, she called for urgent funding for the Organization's Syria humanitarian response plan for 2018.
Mueller also called for an urgent agreement on medical evacuations and assistance for those trapped in eastern Ghouta and other besieged areas of Syria.
She further underlined the need for improved humanitarian access; and for an agreement on UN-supported aid convoys from Damascus to Rukban in south-eastern Syria.
"Fifth, more effective arrangements to enable the UN to support the work of Syrian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and to enable international NGOs to play the stronger role they can and are ready to play in relieving the suffering," she added. (end)
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