Damascus, 17 December 2024
Thank you, Madam President.
And thank you to Special Envoy [Geir] Pedersen for his unflagging work, which I have had the privilege to see firsthand here in Damascus.
Madam President,
The pace of developments in Syria, as you have heard from Geir, over the past three weeks has been dramatic.
What has not changed is the scale of the humanitarian crisis.
Syria was already one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world: 17 million people – more than 70 per cent of the population – in need of support.
More than 7 million people were displaced across the country; millions more Syrians living as refugees.
Nearly 13 million people were facing acute food insecurity.
The recent escalation has only added to these needs. More than a million people were displaced in less than two weeks.
Hundreds of civilians killed and injured, at least 80 of them children.
Health services, water supplies – already corroded by years of conflict and declining funding – were interrupted.
And more than 12,000 schools were temporarily shut down, affecting millions of students.
With borders, commercial routes closed, there have been shortages of bread, fuel and other key items.
Likewise, the flow of humanitarian support was severely disrupted, with most organizations temporarily suspending operations. Several warehouses have been looted. Multiple aid workers – from NGOs and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent – lost their lives.
Thankfully, Madam President, the situation has begun to stabilize.
As I have seen this week, markets, roads, health facilities are reopening. Children have gone back to school. Aid operations are gradually resuming across most of our hubs, including Aleppo, Homs and here in Damascus.
It is critical that we adapt the humanitarian response to the new – if still rapidly shifting – conditions. And that is why I am here in Syria.
First, to ensure that we are coordinated.
Over the past two days, I have been looking closely at our systems for working together. We want to further support humanitarian leadership by drawing flexibly from the resources from across our hubs, including in Amman and Gaziantep, leveraging the strength of the system in place for Syria.
We are also finding more ways to work closely with cross-border actors in north-east Syria to align efforts, but also to ensure the safety of humanitarian actors.
These efforts will ensure that we have a cast-iron grip of the coordination effort, as clear a picture as possible of the emerging needs across the country, and that we can direct resources in a swift and agile way using all available channels.
Tomorrow I will travel to Aleppo, where we are already embarking on this approach. OCHA’s office there is bringing together UN agency teams and NGOs previously working in areas formerly controlled by the Assad government with those working on the cross-border response.
I then plan to visit Idleb, where humanitarian needs are among the most severe.
As the situation evolves and following my visit, we will also swiftly issue an overview of critical funding needs for the next three months.
Madam President,
The second reason for my visit is to ensure that the humanitarian community has the best possible conditions in which to work. While here in Damascus, I have met with representatives of the new Caretaker Government – including the Commander of the New Administration, Mr. Ahmed al-Sharaa, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Mohammed al-Bashir.
I have been encouraged by these discussions and am pleased to report that they have committed to what will be an ambitious scaling-up of vital humanitarian support.
We have received assurances that they will facilitate the movement of aid personnel and supplies from neighbouring countries – including from Türkiye, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq – for as long as humanitarian operations are required.
Again, this includes routes into areas controlled by other parties in the north-east.
The intensification of conflict between actors in north-east Syria and its potential humanitarian fallout is a case for concern and warrants urgent attention and efforts for de-escalation.
We also received assurances that access to people in need will be facilitated wherever they are in Syria, including across lines of conflict and into the north-east.
We have received commitments on the issuance of visas; work permits for aid workers; and NGO registration documents. The Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and authorities are developing a set of guidelines on this.
And, we received commitments on protecting and respecting the principled nature of humanitarian operations. This includes the conduct of independent needs assessments and selection of beneficiaries; the ability to choose our own partners – including those who had been working in Government-held areas and those currently working in the north-east; and assurances that there will not be restrictions on employing women, who are absolutely essential to our mission – absolutely essential.
These commitments alone will not relieve people’s suffering, but they are an essential basis for us to scale up operations.
Madam President,
The third reason for my visit is to ensure that I can make concrete requests of the international community, including the Security Council.
So, from you, we need three things:
First – strong, unequivocal messaging that international humanitarian law must be respected, both in any ongoing hostilities and in meeting people’s basic needs. Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected. Those on the move must be allowed to do so safely.
The missing must be accounted for, and, where hostilities have ended, landmines and explosive remnants of war must be removed.
And, as the authorities agreed, unhindered humanitarian access to those in need, wherever they are, must be facilitated.
A second request – we need more money. I recognize the generosity of donors for the Syria crisis over the years. Since 2016, more than $38 billion has gone to the UN-coordinated appeals for Syria and for the regional refugee response. But this year’s humanitarian appeal – the largest country appeal in the world right now – is also one of the most poorly supported. With just two weeks left in 2024, it is less than a third funded – the largest-ever funding gap for the Syria response.
Now is the time to invest in the Syrian people, to support flexible funds so that we can respond to changing needs. The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund has already allocated $32 million to Syria this year.
Now is also the time for Member States to work on development support to rebuilding Syria, reducing dependence on humanitarian support; and maintaining essential services.
A third request – we need all States to facilitate the humanitarian effort, including by ensuring that sanctions and counterterrorism measures do not impede humanitarian operations.
I will travel next to Ankara to discuss the crisis with the Government of Türkiye. Türkiye’s facilitation of cross-border humanitarian operations in Syria for many years has been a lifeline. I will also be discussing the crisis with authorities in Lebanon and Jordan, who have been such generous hosts of Syrian refugees.
Madam President,
When war erupted in Syria 13 years ago, I was in Lebanon, just the short drive away that I took yesterday.
And neither I, nor anyone, could have imagined then the full extent of the suffering the people of Syria would endure for more than a decade. The world let them down. We let them down.
But there is now, as the Secretary-General has said, an historic opportunity to put that right and support the Syrian people – especially women and girls – in their hope for a more peaceful future. I pay tribute to the Syrian people for their patience, but they have waited too long.
Giving them this support now will take patience, creativity and determination. The progress we make will be inconsistent, and the risks of failure great. But this should be a galvanizing project for the UN, and for the humanitarian movement. And so, at a moment of hope and peril, we must rise to the challenge and back the people of Syria.
Thank you.