UN and partners launch $4.4 billion regional appeal for more than five million Syrian refugees

Well over five million Syrians need help, according to Amin Awad, the
Director for the Middle East and North Africa of the Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

He added that nearly four million people in countries neighbouring
Syria including Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq also need relief after years
spent supporting those displaced since fighting began in 2011.

“Syria remainuncontested the biggest humanitarian crisis of out time.
Seven million inside plus 5.3 million outside; 12.3 million people.
Another 10 million who stayed put in Syria did not leave their homes
but they are cut off. They're cut off (from) livelihoods, services in
education, health, separated from relatives, friends and they are in
need also of humanitarian assistance. The whole nation is in need of
humanitarian assistance,” Awad explained.

The UNHCR official said that the situation of 1.7 million Syrian
refugee children was particularly worrying, as more than four in 10
are out of school.

Supplying the 5.3 million refugees with enough food to eat is also
critical, Awad added, given that insufficient funding in 2015
coincided with one million Syrians risking their lives as they went in
search of shelter in western Europe.

“We are urging the international community and the donors in
particular for many reasons: one, the vast number of refugees that we
have in the region, the geopolitical status of that region, the risk
that 5.3 million people can bring to an area, a small region already
as volatile as it is if there is no assistance. We have had the
experience of 2015 and we should not repeat that. I think we should
meet the needs of these refugees in a timely manner as quickly as
possible,” said Awad.

Photo: UNHCR/I. Prickett



Source: www.justearthnews.com