UN official calls for Syria support ahead of donor conference

United Nations deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis David Carden and a UN delegation visit a newly-built sewage treatment plant in Murin village in Syria’s rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on May 14, 2024. (AFP)

• Existing financing “is clearly not enough to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people,” said David Carden, UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis
• Aid groups have warned of donor fatigue after 13 years of war in Syria

MURIN, Syria: A UN humanitarian official visiting northwest Syria on Tuesday urged the international community to fund crucial aid programs in the war-torn country ahead of an upcoming pledging conference in Brussels.
The Idlib region, Syria’s last main bastion of armed opposition, hosts about three million people, many of whom are displaced from other parts of the country.
Existing financing “is clearly not enough to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people,” said David Carden, UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, from Murin in Idlib province.
Aid groups have warned of donor fatigue after 13 years of war in Syria, with the international community now focused on conflicts elsewhere.
Syria’s humanitarian response plan for 2024 requires more than $4 billion but is only six percent funded, Carden told AFP.
Insufficient resources are also impacting the UN’s ability to truck aid across the border from Türkiye and support those who need it in the county’s northwest.
Ahead of the Brussels conference later this month, Carden said that “we need continued support for the Syria program.”
“We need to do everything we can to ensure that the people in Syria can get back on their feet and start reliving their lives,” he said.
“After 13 years of conflict people are tired of handouts.”
Janne Suvanto of the World Food Programme, who was part of the delegation visiting Idlib, said “the food security situation in northwest Syria is very bad.”
“There are over 600,000 people who are severely food insecure,” he told AFP.
About 90 percent of Syrians live in poverty, according to the United Nations.
Civil war erupted in Syria after President Bashar Assad crushed peaceful anti-government protests in 2011.
The conflict has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions after spiralling into a devastating war involving foreign armies, militias and militants.