A total of 9.3 million Syrian children need humanitarian assistance, the UN warned on Sunday, a record since the start of the conflict in 2011. The UN also deplores a drop in international funding, claiming to have received “less than half of the funds needed this year”.
“Syria’s children have suffered for far too long and should not suffer anymore,” UNICEF said in a statement. This is the “highest figure recorded since the start of the conflict more than 11 years ago”.
13,000 children have been killed or injured since 2011
In addition, in neighboring countries, “2.8 million (well 2.8) Syrian refugee children depend on this aid”, according to a UNICEF spokeswoman, Juliette Touma. “Many families are struggling to make ends meet,” said UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Adele Khodr. “Prices of essentials, including food, are skyrocketing, partly because of the crisis in Ukraine.” The organization claims to have “an urgent need of 20 million dollars (nearly 19 million euros) for its cross-border operations, the only means of survival for nearly one million children in northwestern Syria”. , a rebel-held region.
Humanitarian aid reaching this region mainly passes through the border between Turkey and Syria under special UN authorization which makes it possible to avoid any authorization from the regime of Bashar al-Assad. “The crisis in Syria is far from over”, further recalled UNICEF, indicating that 13,000 children have been killed or injured since 2011, including 213 of them “during the first three months” of 2022. About half a million people have died since the start of the conflict in Syria in 2011, causing the largest displacement of people since the Second World War.