syria-un-20140813 30

A/HRC/27/60 30 Annex III [English only] Humanitarian context 1. With 6.5 million internally displaced persons and 2.9 million registered refugees, Syria has become the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe. According to UN agencies, 10.8 million Syrians are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance inside the country, 241,000 people still live under siege and 4.7 million reside in hard-to-reach areas. Despite the passing of resolution 2139 (2014), insecurity, hostilities and administrative restrictions continue to prevent humanitarian access to a growing number of locations. The level of obstruction to the delivery of aid by all warring parties was qualified as “inhuman” by OCHA’s Under-Secretary-General Valerie Amos. 2. Areas considered safe havens by families forced into repeated displacements came under attack. In June, the shelling of a camp of internally displaced persons in Ash-Shajarah, Dara’a, resulted in dozens of casualties. 3. The ever-growing influx of refugees into Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq has heightened tensions between Syrians and their host communities, threatening the security of the entire region. Cases of forcible returns and denial of access are on the rise. Palestinian refugees seeking safety in neighbouring countries are particularly affected by these factors. 4. Syrian women and children form the vast majority of refugee and internally displaced communities. The social and economic impact of the conflict has placed them at increased risk of abuse and exploitation. Child marriages and sexual violence emerged as prominent issues in refugee camps, with devastating consequences on the education and health of Syrian girls. 5. Despite immeasurable operational challenges and deliberate attacks against them, humanitarian agencies and NGOs continued to provide life-saving assistance to Syrians in need, including through polio vaccination campaigns, water sanitation programmes and medical items distributions throughout the country. 6. The unanimous adoption of resolution 2165 (2014) authorising the delivery of humanitarian assistance across borders via Turkey, Jordan and Iraq is a very important step forward. The first convoy from Turkey through the Bab Al-Salam crossing took place on 24 July, without any reported incident. The resolution potentially opens up direct routes to approximately three million people caught in the conflict