A sad record. More than 12.3 million Syrian children need humanitarian assistance, the UN warned on Sunday May 8, a record since the start of the conflict in 2011. “Millions of children still live in fear, uncertainty and need in Syria and neighboring countries”said in a press release the regional director of Unicef for the Middle East and North Africa.
According to the latest data from the UN agency, “more than 6.5 million children in Syria need assistance” and “nearly 5.8 million Syrian children in neighboring countries depend on it”. “This is the highest figure recorded since the beginning of the conflict more than 11 years ago”clarified the regional director of UNICEF.
13,000 children killed or injured since 2011
“Many families are struggling to make ends meet”added the UN official. “Prices of essentials, including food, are skyrocketing, in part because of the crisis in Ukraine.” UNICEF also deplores a drop in international funding, claiming to have received “less than half of the funds needed this year”.
The organization claims to have “an urgent need of 20 million dollars [près de 19 millions d’euros] for its cross-border operations, the only means of survival for almost a 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” by 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.
