UN Urges Member Nations To Back 2019 Syria Humanitarian Plan As Only 23% Of Funds Raised

The United Nations' Syria Humanitarian Response Plan for 2019 has raised less than a quarter of the required $3.3 billion, Najat Rochdi, senior humanitarian adviser to the UN special envoy for Syria, said on Thursday, urging member nations to step up financial assistance for the humanitarian efforts

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th June, 2019) The United Nations' Syria Humanitarian Response Plan for 2019 has raised less than a quarter of the required $3.3 billion, Najat Rochdi, senior humanitarian adviser to the UN special envoy for Syria, said on Thursday, urging member nations to step up financial assistance for the humanitarian efforts.

"The Syria Humanitarian Response Plan requires US$3.3 billion to assist more than 11 million Syrians in 2019. Today, the operation is only 23 per cent funded. More resources are required to respond to urgent needs in northwestern Syria and other areas across the country," Rochdi said at the Syria Humanitarian Task Force meeting in Geneva.

She noted that the Arab republic "continues to be one of the most complex humanitarian crises in the world."

First of all, she recalled that since early May when fighting in the northwest of Syria significantly escalated, some 330,000 Syrians had been displaced from their homes.

"We have received reports of some people having to leave their homes an average of five times since the start of the conflict, some have been displaced more than 10 times," Rochdi added, stressing that the hostilities in the region took the heaviest toll on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

The UN humanitarian adviser also reiterated calls for "predictable and durable humanitarian access" to the Rukban refugee camp located in the US-controlled zone around its base in At-Tanf. She recalled that some 27,000 people living there "remain in dire need of humanitarian and protection assistance," with some of them seeking an opportunity to leave.

Thirdly, she noted that "the situation for the thousands of children" at the Al-Hawl camp in the country's northeast, which in total has some 73,000 inhabitants, also "remains shameful."

In her speech, Rochdi also stressed that all parties to the conflict "have an international legal obligation to respect international humanitarian law."