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The mission of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors. United Nations Nations Unies Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR VALERIE AMOS SECURITY COUNCIL BRIEFING ON SYRIA New York, 25 October 2013 As Delivered Mr. President, Thank you for the opportunity to update the Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria. I would like to begin by thanking the Council for the adoption of its Presidential Statement on 2 October this year regarding the humanitarian situation in Syria. The Statement demonstrated a unity of purpose in the Council’s response to the humanitarian situation in Syria and was a clear recognition that the appalling suffering inflicted on ordinary women, children and men by this conflict is completely unacceptable. I regret to report that, despite the Council’s grave alarm at the significant and rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation, and its call for urgent increased humanitarian action, fighting continues to intensify across the country and its impact on civilians continues to grow each day. Ongoing assessments reveal a substantial increase in needs and in internal displacement. As winter begins to fall across the country for a third year since this conflict began, millions live in makeshift shelters, exposed to the elements and unprotected from the cold. All Palestine refugee camps have been affected by the conflict, tens of thousands of Palestine refugees have had their homes damages or destroyed and more than 50 per cent have been displaced. Diseases, including those easily preventable by basic hygiene and vaccination, are spreading at an alarming rate. Just last week we received reports of polio cases in Deir-ez-Zor, which, if confirmed, will mark the first polio outbreak in Syria in 14 years. In Aleppo and other cities, leishmaniasis is rife, disfiguring and scarring children’s faces for the rest of their lives. There are also worrying reports of rapidly increasing malnutrition. People suffering from chronic illnesses, such as cancer and diabetes, lack access to treatment, and they also are dying. Silently. Mr. President, On 2 October, this Council called on all parties to the Syrian conflict to immediately cease and desist from all violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights and to take all appropriate steps to protect civilians. Yet, three weeks later, we continue to receive reports of both Government and opposition military positions being established in populated areas and of the occupation of, and indiscriminate attacks against, civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, power plants and water points. On Wednesday, a gas pipeline was hit, shutting down power in Damascus and many other locations across the country. Since the war began, over 3,000 schools and a significant number of mosques have been damaged or destroyed. Most flour mills and bakeries are no longer operational. Medical facilities have been particularly hard hit: around 60 per cent of hospitals, 38 per cent o