By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

DAMASCUS, Syria – The United Nations Security Council passed a number of resolutions last year intended to broaden the reach of aid access to millions of Syrians in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. The most recent Security Council resolution was unanimously approved in December and extended cross-border aid deliveries to Syrians in rebel-held areas without approval from the Assad Regime in Damascus. However, on Wednesday, Norwegian Refugee Council secretary general Jan Egeland said the resolutions “have had no impact” and the international community is “not able to do what we should be able to do” to ensure Syrians in need receive vital assistance. “We’re failing the Syrians — that’s the honest truth here,” Egeland, who served as U.N. humanitarian chief from 2003 to 2006, said adding that the “Security Council has failed in enforcing their own resolution.” According to the United Nations, The U.N. approximately 4.5 million people in Syria are in need of assistance and are in hard-to-reach areas, including approximately 200,000 who live in besieged communities where reaching aid has become nearly impossible.

Norwegian Refugee Council secretary general Jan Egeland criticized the Assad regime for preventing aid from reaching the Syrian people and called on the International Community to improve access to aid. (Photo courtesy of the Daily Star Lebanon)

After almost four years of civil war inside Syria an estimated 12.2 million Syrians inside the country are in need of assistance while another 3.8 million have fled the country and are now living as refugees in neighboring countries Aid is desperately needed by displaced Syrians living both inside the conflict zone in Syria and as refugees in neighboring countries, especially during the winter months when families are most at risk of become victims of natural disasters and bitter cold weather. Recent assessments conducted by The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have found that more than half of all Syrian refugees live in sub-standard housing which become particularly challenging for refugee families during the winter months when poor shelters cannot adequately protect them from freezing rain, flooding, snow and bitter cold. This winter is the fourth year that UNHCR and its partners have provided winter assistance to Syrian refugees,

UNHCR launched massive operation in Lebanon to provide assistance to refugees during the winter months. According to the UNHCR, the planning and budgeting for the winter months, which begin in November, began months in advance to ensure that the needs of refugees could be met as best as possible despite funding and logistical changes. Providing assistance to refugees is not only a problem for aid organizations like UNHCR. Receiving states who have allowed refugees to cross their border from Syria since the conflict began in 2011 have seen increasing restrains as the refugee population grows and the protracted civil war continues seemingly indifferently. According to the UNHCR representative in Lebanon Ninette Kelley, “Lebanon today faces an unprecedented challenge to manage both its own population and Syrian refugees. It has the highest per capita concentration of refugees in the world and more global support, including for long-term development, is urgently needed.”

For more information please see:

ABC News – Aid Group Chief: UN Efforts Haven’t Boosted Syria Aid Access – 25 February 2015

The Daily Star, Lebanon – Aid Group Chief: UN Efforts Haven’t Boosted Syria Aid Access – 25 February 2015

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – Humanity, Hope and Thoughts of Home: Syrian Refugees in Southern Lebanon – 25 February 2015

United Nations News Centre – Security Council Renews Cross-Border Aid Delivery to Syria – 17 December 2014

Author: Impunity Watch Archive