Syria

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today released a regional refugee and resilience plan, which is seeking $5.7 billion to reach 6.8 million Syrian refugees and 6.1 million people in host communities with assistance in 2023.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR), together with 41 international and national partners, launched today the 2023 funding appeal for over $500 million to provide life-saving assistance to more than 900,000 refugees in Sudan, the second-largest asylum country in Africa.

With the United Nations Team’s support, the Chadian Government adopted its first-ever action plan to implement Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, with authorities also pledging to strengthen women’s participation in the political transition, including a revision of the Constitution.

Twelve years filled with destruction and war, corruption, sanctions and the Lebanese financial collapse, as well as the recent COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, have contributed to “a twin humanitarian and economic crisis of epic proportions”, the Special Envoy for Syria told the Council today, giving a detailed report on the embattled country.

In Ethiopia, humanitarian colleagues report some 3,000 truckloads of food, health, shelter, water and other supplies have entered the conflict-affected Tigray region since mid-November following the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service is also conducting regular flights into Tigray.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report that the ozone layer is on track to recover within four decades.

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

The Security Council unanimously decided today to extend the use of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing for the delivery of aid into north-west Syria until 10 July 2023, as members subsequently assessed the propriety of the six-month extension.

Today, two inter-agency convoys, facilitated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, delivered medicine, emergency shelter kits, blankets, sleeping bags, hygiene kits and solar lamps to 5,000 residents in two towns in the southern Khersonska oblast that had been heavily impacted by fighting.

Syria must fully cooperate with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to close all outstanding issues related to its declaration, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today during its monthly briefing on the implementation of resolution 2118 (2013) on the elimination of the country’s chemical weapons programme, highlighting that long-standing gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies remain unresolved.