The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement on Wednesday that it is urging the international community to help fund its $1.4 billion program to help children in Syria and in neighboring countries
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th March, 2021) The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement on Wednesday that it is urging the international community to help fund its $1.4 billion program to help children in Syria and in neighboring countries.
"As Syria marks 10 years of war, UNICEF reminds the warring parties, those with influence over them and the wider international community that: Humanitarian organizations like UNICEF urgently need the support and funding they need to deliver assistance to Syria's children," the statement said. "UNICEF is appealing for US$1.4 billion for its response inside Syria and the neighboring countries for 2021."
UNICEF noted that children associated with armed groups, particularly those in the northeast of Syria, must be reintegrated in local communities, while kids of foreign nationals must be repatriated safely to their countries of origin.
UNICEF also called on the sides to the conflict in Syria to refrain from attacks on children and civilian infrastructure.
"We call for the renewal of the UN Security Council Resolution on cross border assistance allowing the continuation of delivery of lifesaving assistance across Syria's borders," the statement said. "There are no winners in this war and the biggest loss is brought upon Syria's children. It is time for warring parties to put the guns down and come to the negotiation table. Peace and diplomacy are the only way out of this abyss."
UNICEF said the ten-year war in Syria "has left the lives and futures of a generation of children hanging by a thread" and 90 percent of children are currently in need of humanitarian assistance, .
Last year, the price of the average food basket in the country grew by over 230 percent, while the reported numbers of children showing symptoms of psychosocial distress doubled in 2020, UNICEF also said.
"According to verified data, between 2011 and 2020: Almost 12,000 children were killed or injured; More than 5,700 children - some as young as seven years old - were recruited into the fighting," the statement said. "More than 1,300 education and medical facilities and personnel have come under attack."
UNICEF explained that the situation in northern Syria is particularly alarming.
"In the northwest, millions of children remain displaced, with many families having fled violence multiple times, some as many as seven times, in search of safety," the statement said. "More than 75 per cent of the grave violations recorded in 2020 occurred in the northwest."
In addition, in the Al-Hol camp and throughout northeast Syria, 27,500 children of at least 60 nationalities as well as thousands of Syrian children associated with armed groups are staying in camps and detention centers.
"Violence has recently surged in Al-Hol, putting lives at risk and highlighting the need for long-term solutions including reintegration in local communities or the safe repatriation of children to their countries of origin," the statement added.
