Syria

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

Nearly 75,000 refugees and migrants, including an estimated 24,600 children, are stranded in Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary and the Western Balkans, and at risk of psychosocial distress from living in a protracted state of limbo, UNICEF warned today. The situation is particularly acute for single mothers and children.

Staffan de Mistura, the Special Envoy for Syria, told reporters today that the United Nations is very concerned at reports of escalation, including alleged air strikes, at a delicate moment in the Astana discussions, where proposals to de-escalate the conflict are under very serious consideration.

The World Food Programme (WFP) reports that the Central African Republic counts among the world’s most forgotten crises, receiving ever-shrinking humanitarian funding.  With half its people needing humanitarian aid and more than 2 million hungry, WFP’s humanitarian response plan for 2017 is only 7 per cent financed.

A group of 36 Yazidi women, men and children have been rescued from slavery after being held for nearly three years by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh).  The women and girls are under care at dedicated United Nations Population Fund service points supported by the Government of the Netherlands.

Stephen O’Brien, Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefing the Security Council on Syria today, voiced his concern about the situation in eastern Ghouta where the United Nations has been unable to get access to some 400,000 people since last October.  He called for a pause in fighting to allow for the delivery of aid.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Edmond Mulet of Guatemala as the Head of the independent three-member panel to lead the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism established by Security Council resolution 2235 (2015) on the use of chemicals as weapons in Syria.

Condemning the latest attacks on civilians in Syria today, the United Nations humanitarian chief told the Security Council that real progress was needed to “stymie the tide of death” in that country.

UNICEF said today that it procured 2.5 billion doses of vaccines for children in nearly 100 countries in 2016, reaching almost half the world’s children under the age of 5.  The figures, released during World Immunization Week, make UNICEF the largest buyer of vaccines for children in the world.

More than 25 million children between 6 and 15 years old, or 22 per cent of children in that age group, are missing out on school in conflict zones across 22 countries, according to a UNICEF report issued today.  South Sudan has the highest rate at almost 72 per cent, followed by Chad and Afghanistan.