JORDAN: Syrian regime agrees deal allow UNICEF to expand humanitarian efforts in wartorn country

Record ID: 281482

  • Title: JORDAN: Syrian regime agrees deal allow UNICEF to expand humanitarian efforts in wartorn country
  • Date: 9th October 2012
  • Summary: DELEGATION WALKING AROUND THE PLAYGROUND ANTHONY LAKE OBSERVING ART BY CHILDREN ANTHONY LAKE SHAKING HANDS WITH SOME REFUGEES
  • Embargoed: 24th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jordan
  • Country: Jordan
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA68RY5OUSUYTWX4WNAJMULW9KE
  • Story Text: The director of UNICEF said on Monday (October 8) the aid agency had stuck an deal with Syria to expand its humanitarian operations across the country by boosting its presence significantly in a move that could save tens of thousands of lives now threatened by the raging violence.
    Anthony Lake said the deal allows the U.N. agency to go beyond its Damascus operations to reach needy Syrians in areas of conflict.
    It will speed up the implementation of plans to vaccinate one million vulnerable children who could be prone to fatal diseases such as measles.
    "We have reached a quarter of a million children already, we have a growing opportunity in fact to do much more, we have a plan, for example, to vaccinate over a million children in the coming couple of months, so working with almost 40 civil society local organizations and the Red Crescent society there we have a big opportunity to save and improve hundreds of thousands of lives there," Lake said.
    The deal will expand UNICEF's partnership with over 40 Syrian civil groups and the Syrian Red Crescent, he added while on a visit to a refugee camp which houses over 30,000 Syrian refugees.
    "The Syrian government has agreed, especially in recent weeks, to allow us to work with a number of local groups that will allow us to address the needs of the people," Lake said.
    Lake said discussions were also underway with the Syrian authorities to open offices in a number of locations including Homs, the scene of massive damage and the biggest civilian casualties in the conflict.
    An office has recently been opened in the port city of Tartous.
    "We have actually increased our staff in Syria, we're hoping to establish some local offices in various areas of Syria, and as I said we've expanded the number of local partners that we are working with, and so I think we have an opportunity, if we can seize it, to save a lot of lives and improve the situation."
    To date the 18 month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's rule has killed approximately 30,000 people according to the United Nations.
    The deteriorating situation is driving civilians to flee Syria to neighbouring countries in even greater numbers.
    The agreement will allow a major expansion of UNICEF's work in the country where escalating violence and disruption of services and livelihoods threatened to put more children's lives at risk, Lake said.
    UNICEF plays a lead role along with other humanitarian groups in extending a range of essential services, including water, sanitation, education and psychological support in Syria.
    Lake said although it was difficult to estimate how many children had died it was clear they had borne the brunt of the conflict.
    The Syrian Network for Human Rights, a group of grassroot activists, said at least 333 children had been killed in September alone.
    "What is especially outrageous when children suffer from these conflicts is that the children of course have nothing to do with creating those conflicts, so the first victims of the violence, the children, are those who bear the least responsibility for the violence itself," Lake said.
    Despite a financing gap, Lake said the agency was planning long term for a conflict that shows no sign of a political breakthrough, including looking at supply routes and stockpiles.
    But the challenges ahead were daunting with biting winter looming. There are over a million displaced Syrians - around half of whom are children and women - many forced to shelter in schools and mosques and other public buildings, Lake said.
    UNICEF figures produced in collaboration with the Syrian authorities show that at least 2,000 schools have been damaged and up to 607 schools are housing displaced people.
    "Also we have to remember that this is not only a physical problem, its a psychological problem, and unless we can help educate the children and help them overcome the psychological wounds, then we are gonna see the hatreds develop that can then replicate the conflict in future generations," he added.
    Lake said a long road lay ahead in order to undertake widespread immunisation programmes beyond the quarter of a million already vaccinated against potentially fatal diseases.
    Lake said harrowing tales from children who had fled indiscriminate shelling in villages and towns across southern Syria only reinforced his personal sense that there was a need to step up humanitarian aid.
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