The situation in Syria's Rukban refugee camp remains dire despite the latest delivery of international humanitarian aid to the area, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Representative Fran Equiza said in a statement on Friday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2019) The situation in Syria's Rukban refugee camp remains dire despite the latest delivery of international humanitarian aid to the area, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Representative Fran Equiza said in a statement on Friday."The humanitarian situation in the camp remains desperate for the children and families stranded in this remote area," Equiza said. "The needs, especially for food, water, health care and shelter are dire. Humanitarian deliveries are only a temporary solution."
Equiza and other humanitarian workers recently paid a nine-day visit to the camp to deliver aid for the first time in three months. Access to the camp, which lies within the US-controlled zone surrounding its military base in At-Tanf, has been severely limited, and refugees who are trapped there have only received aid two times in the last year.
UNICEF said the latest aid delivery on February 6 was a welcome step, but would not be sufficient to meet the needs of the population there.
"All parties to the conflict have an obligation and a responsibility to facilitate humanitarian access to all reach children in need wherever they are in the country and no matter who controls the area they are in," UNICEF said.
During their visit to the camp, international aid workers vaccinated thousands of children and delivered aid to more than 40,000 people, the statement said.
The joint mission delivered 30 trucks with health and nutrition supplies for an estimated 20,000 children and mothers, as well as hygiene kits for more than 40,000 people. UNICEF also delivered recreational kits and education supplies for more than 8,000 children, it said.
"Children in Rukban and other hard-to-reach areas of Syria are still fighting for their very survival and need urgent humanitarian assistance before it is too late," said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, who visited Syria in December last year. "This latest humanitarian convoy allowed us to deliver desperately needed support to some of the most vulnerable children and families. While this is a welcome step, we continue to urge all parties to grant us regular, sustained and unconditional access to all children across Syria."
Since December last year, at least eight children, most of them newborns, have died in the camp because of freezing temperatures and lack of medical care, UNICEF said.
Over 100 trucks took part in the humanitarian aid delivery to Rukban in early February. The last delivery of humanitarian aid to the camp took place in early November.
