The United Nations is hoping to gain more donor support for its humanitarian operations in Syria, where the number of people needing help continues to increase.
Insecurity and lack of international funding have been preventing aid agencies from reaching all Syrians in need of food and other essentials. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has appealed for $180 million to scale up and refine operations in the country, but has so far received only about 20 percent.
“We will communicate the needs clearly” on Monday (July 16) at the fourth Syria Humanitarian Forum in Geneva, U.N. OCHA Operations Director John Ging told Agence France-Presse. He said the agency has already used the terms “appalling,” “desperate,” and “deplorable” in its quest to mobilize funds for more than 1 million civilians affected by the fighting.
“We have run out of language to describe how it is for the civilian population,” he said.
Money for Syrians has mostly come from the United States, the European Union, Australia, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Canada, according to AFP. This donor base, Ging stressed, needs to be “expanded.”
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About the author
Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo
Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.
