Is the world failing Syrians?

The United Nations has warned that the humanitarian situation in Syria is deteriorating rapidly, and it estimates that more than nine million people - almost forty percent of the population - are now in need of help.

Delivery of aid has slowed and some reports suggest there has been little help for many people in need for almost a year.

The UN says the number of people displaced from their homes has risen to 6.5 million, and many are living without adequate food or access to electricity and medical supplies.

Officials of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent say their agency is able access most of the affected areas but the humanitarian aid has not been sufficient.

The figures are staggering, it’s catastrophic, the numbers continue to rise. Now when we have reached this very high figure, if we compare to the previous figures that went out in June when we were talking of about 4.2 million people displaced inside the country, it is not one event that has triggered this. It’s a continuation of conflict. It’s a continuation of the displacement that has now brought us to this horrific number. Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

"It’s not difficult to get the aid in the country. The main challenge we are facing on the ground is the aid from outside, through our partners, is not enough for the need on the ground," Khaled Erksoussi, the head of operations for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, told Al Jazeera.

"Now we are estimating the number is more than 6 million people internally displaced, yet we are still receiving aid only enough for 2.5 million people to be distributed each month."

Since the unrest began in March 2011, more than 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed. More than two million people have fled the country, seeking refuge in neighbouring Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, as well as in Iraq and Egypt.

The 15-member UN Security Council approved a statement in October, calling for increased humanitarian assistance. But it was non-binding and, speaking in October, humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said it had had little impact on the ground.

"I expressed to the council my deep disappointment that the progress that we had hoped to see on the ground as a result of that statement has not happened, and as a result, what we are seeing is a deepening of the crisis, more and more people affected and, in particular, my worries [are] about the extremely brutal and violent nature of this conflict," she said.

Amos is calling on the Security Council to use its influence over those parties that can ensure the safe passage of medical personnel and supplies, the safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance, the protection of civilians, and those who can help expand critical, life-saving relief operations.

Bashar Jaafari, Syria's ambassador to the UN, said his country has done its part to help humanitarian aid workers on the ground - although he did admit that visas are limited, and not granted to all groups that request access.

"We are issuing too many visas to too many people. We are a sovereign nation like any other nation and we have our own reasons to deny visa to this individual or that individual. This is an integral part of our sovereignty - of any state in the United Nations," he said.

While all this was going on, the World Health Organization confirmed Syria's first outbreak of polio since 1999. At least 10 children have tested positive for polio in the eastern province of Deir az-Zor, with another 12 suffering from paralysis. More

 

UN envoy talks Syria, crimes against kids there

UNITED NATIONS — A top U.N. official said Monday she was overwhelmed by the suffering of children during a recent visit to Syria and warned officials and rebel commanders alike that they risk prosecution as war criminals for atrocities against minors.

Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, said she met parents whose children were killed in bombings, children who saw siblings die in front of them and teenagers who had fought with armed opposition groups. She visited both Syria and neighboring countries that are hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees from the civil war.

Around 7,000 children under the age of 15 have been killed during Syria's more than two-year-old conflict. Half of the 1.7 million Syrian refugees are children, and inside the war-ravaged country, more than 3 million children are in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

A recent U.N. report placed the main rebel umbrella group, the Free Syrian Army, on its "list of shame" for recruiting child soldiers. Syrian government forces were added to the list for detaining minors and often torturing and sexually assaulting them.

Zerrougui said one of her main goals during her visit was to make clear to both sides that the United Nations is keeping track of atrocities and that perpetrators would not escape persecution.

"You can't imagine when you go to a hospital and you see a child without a leg ... and then you see the brother lying on the bed who lost a kidney, who lost a pancreas and the mother is sitting near. Those are the realities that you see," Zerrougui said at a news conference.

"One day Syria will come to peace, and those committing the atrocities will have to face, I hope, justice," she said.

Zerrougui said she met teenagers who fought with armed opposition groups. She said the U.N. is verifying reports that armed groups were forcing some families to send their teenage children to war in exchange for protection. But many minors, she said, were following relatives to war, making it important to convince commanders not to let such children join their ranks.

She said it was a difficult message to get across: Most commanders on the ground denied recruiting children and insisted everyone in their ranks was at least 18. That denial came even though the leadership of the Free Syrian Army has acknowledged the problem and sent Zerrougui a letter asking for guidance on how to get off the "list of shame."

The government of President Bashar Assad recently passed a law prohibiting child soldier recruitment. But Zerrougui said she emphasized to Syrian government officials that if they consider child soldiers victims, authorities must stop detaining them as criminal suspects. She said Syrian authorities continue detaining children on security charges or because their families are suspects of sympathizing with the opposition.

Zerrougui said she feels a political solution is the only way out for Syria, but she was struck by the polarization that is making compromise more difficult.

Of the four government ministers she met, Zerrougui said, "three had lost a sister, a son or a brother, killed by the other side. This is the reality of Syrian families. This creates a lot of anger and polarization."

The Syrian regime feels "it has no other option but to win this war," she said. More