{"id":165535,"date":"2018-05-30T02:54:33","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T06:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=165535"},"modified":"2018-05-30T02:54:33","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T06:54:33","slug":"un-urges-syria-to-allow-aid-to-2-million-in-desperate-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/30\/un-urges-syria-to-allow-aid-to-2-million-in-desperate-need\/","title":{"rendered":"UN urges Syria to allow aid to 2 million in desperate need"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mark<\/a>
Mark Lowcock told the U.N. Security Council the situation in Idlib, one of the opposition’s last remaining footholds in Syria, is \u201calarming\u201d with airstrikes, clashes between armed groups, overcrowding and severely stretched basic services. (Photo: Mark Lowcock\/Twitter)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.N. humanitarian chief on Tuesday urged the Syrian government primarily but also some rebel groups to allow the delivery of aid to more than 2 million desperate people in hard-to-reach areas.<\/p>\n

Mark Lowcock told the U.N. Security Council the situation in Idlib, one of the opposition’s last remaining footholds in Syria, is \u201calarming\u201d with airstrikes, clashes between armed groups, overcrowding and severely stretched basic services.<\/p>\n

Idlib has suffered deteriorating security in recent months as rebel and jihadist factions battle with the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee for dominance and Lowcock said more than 80,000 newly displaced people have arrived in the area since March.<\/p>\n

He said the first convoy in more than two months is due to go to northern rural Homs on Wednesday with assistance for nearly 93,000 people.<\/p>\n

France’s U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre called the humanitarian situation throughout Syria \u201dalarming,\u201d saying access for U.N. agencies and aid organizations to deliver humanitarian assistance \u201cis still very much constrained.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Idlib, he said, there are more than two million people including hundreds of thousands of Syrians evacuated from cities taken back by the government, many who lack \u201ceverything\u201d living in over-saturated camps.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must do everything we can to prevent Idlib to become a new humanitarian disaster,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In the Damascus suburbs of eastern Ghouta, Lowcock said the government asked the U.N. to provide assistance after it retook the former rebel-held area and he released $16 million. But he said the U.N. has only received authorization to visit once since mid-March.<\/p>\n

The humanitarian chief reiterated the U.N.’s request to facilitate access, saying the government has approved a convoy to aid 70,000 people in the eastern Ghouta town of Douma, but \u201cfacilitation letters have not been provided.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowcock, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the 2 million Syrians in hard-to-reach areas \u201cin places like northern rural Homs, Douma and southern Damascus are some of the most desperate in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far this year, he said, only six convoys have reached those area helping 169,000 people, \u201cless than 20 per cent of the people we would like to be reaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowcock urged the Security Council to support his office’s efforts to ensure \u201csafe, unimpeded and sustained access\u201d to those Syrians in greatest need.<\/p>\n

He lamented that violence against health care facilities and health personnel remain \u201ca grim hallmark\u201d of the seven-year conflict in Syria.<\/p>\n

In the first four months of 2018, Lowcock said, 92 health-related attacks have been documented involving 89 deaths and 135 injuries. He also expressed serious concern at reports that medical facilities were attacked shortly after co-ordinated deconfliction efforts were taken to avoid attacks.<\/p>\n

Despite all these problems, Lowcock said U.N. convoys provided food to over 2 million people in government-controlled areas last month, and to 850,000 people in cross-border deliveries to rebel areas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.N. humanitarian chief on Tuesday urged the Syrian government primarily but also some rebel groups to allow the delivery …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":165541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[12942,30594,20484],"class_list":["post-165535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","tag-francois-delattre","tag-mark-lowcock","tag-u-n-security-council","mauthors-edith-m-lederer","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}