A senior United Nations relief official on Monday warned that humanitarian needs triggered by the Syrian conflict were growing more acute with each passing day, and said that the U.N. and its partners were facing shortage of funds to finance their efforts to address the current situation.
John Ging, Director of Operations for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), also urged world nations to contribute more funds to assist millions of needy Syrians facing a deteriorating situation inside the country and particularly a harsh winter.
"The situation in Syria, as we all know, continues to deteriorate and that means that there are greater needs… more people in need but also that the needs are more acute as the coping mechanisms continue to collapse," Ging told a news conference in New York.
"The biggest humanitarian effort in Syria is the effort of the population to support their brothers and sisters at this incredibly difficult time. Families are hosting so many people and they themselves are also affected by the situation," he noted.
Ging, who recently led an inter-agency humanitarian mission to Syria and Lebanon, cited a funding shortfall that is affecting the ability of the U.N. and its partners to deliver vital assistance, including food, water and medical supplies, to those affected by the Syrian conflict.
His remarks came ahead of the upcoming humanitarian pledging conference chaired by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Kuwait on Wednesday. The conference seeks to raise $1.5 billion to assist civilians affected by the Syrian crisis over the next six months, including those inside the country as well as those taking refuge beyond its borders.
Syria has been witnessing fierce fighting between government forces and armed rebels opposed to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad since March 2011. An estimated 60,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria since the armed rebellion began.
In addition to the fatalities, continued violence has displaced millions inside Syria. The U.N. estimates that the number of people in need of assistance inside Syria has quadrupled from one million in March 2012 to four million in December.
Besides, an estimated 600,000 Syrians have sought refuge in neighboring countries of Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan as well as North Africa after fleeing the conflict, which is now viewed as a civil war by most of the international community.
Earlier in the month, the U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) had warned that more than a million Syrians were going hungry due to acute food shortages. The U.N. agency says it is now assisting some 1.5 million of the estimated 2.5 million Syrians who are currently in need of food assistance.
In a press release on Monday, the OCHA noted that the harsh winter has compounded the sufferings of the people in need, especially the internally displaced Syrians living in shelters lacking adequate insulation with no winter clothes and no blankets. The U.N. agency said lack of fuel and electricity had been a major challenge for those affected as well as for those trying to deliver vital humanitarian aid.
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