Security Council: 12 years of war, leaves 70 per cent of Syrians needing aid

Acting Director of the Operations and Advocacy Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Ghada Mudawi, expressed her hope that this year would not be another catastrophic year for Syrians.

Addressing the UN Security Council yesterday, Madawi said that people in Syria had suffered 12 years of conflict and humanitarian crisis, noting that 15.3 million Syrians — about 70 per cent of Syria’s total population — needed humanitarian assistance.

She added that Syrians were facing a harsh winter with rain and flooding in the midst of a continuing cholera outbreak, noting that humanitarian efforts to help Syrians in the north-west of the country cope with winter had received only about 78 per cent funding.

She also described the Security Council’s decision to renew the mechanism for cross-border humanitarian access as a necessary step, stressing that cross-border delivery was a matter of life and death for millions in the north-west. The Security Council held a meeting on Wednesday, at which UN officials other than Pederson and Ghada Mudawi reported on the political and humanitarian situation in Syri