syria-un-20170621 1

1 United Nations Nations Unies Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR, MR. STEPHEN O’BRIEN GENERAL ASSEMBLY BRIEFING ON SYRIA New York, 21 June Checked against delivery Mr. President, Excellencies, I wish to thank the President of the General Assembly for calling this meeting and taking this comprehensive approach to a briefing from the political, human rights and humanitarian perspectives and providing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs the opportunity to brief on the humanitarian situation in Syria. I thank Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura for his detailed briefing and ASG Ivan Simonovic for his coming briefing on the human rights aspects. In Syria, a conflict that started off as civil unrest in March 2011 has since transformed into an ugly and brutal war characterized by extreme levels of violence committed against civilians in a climate utterly devoid of protection in many parts of the country. A climate in which civilians have endured relentless attacks; mass displacement from their communities; the decimation of their homes and critical infrastructure; and despicable, medieval besiegement tactics, for years. In the Syria crisis, the facts speak for themselves: hundreds of thousands killed; and well over a million injured. Life expectancy in Syria has dropped by wait for it – imagine this – 20 years. Approximately half of the population has been forcibly displaced, 6.5 million of them inside the country, in addition to the half a million Palestinian refugees. Overall, 13.5 million people are left in urgent need of humanitarian and protection assistance. The conflict in Syria has destroyed the country’s social and economic fabric, eroding development gains made over several generations: 80 per cent of Syrians now live in poverty, nearly nine million Syrians are food insecure amidst rising prices and food shortages, and two million children have been forced out of school altogether. We should never lose sight of the immeasurable human impact of this crisis; the trauma and emotional toll on civilians, particularly young people, too long exposed to living in