YouSaid · the spoken record

Mark Lowcock

lines on the record: 336
first: 2020-03-30
most recent: 2021-05-26
sittings or episodes: 28
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Secondly, the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen drastically, and their purchasing power has increased. In recent decades, the extreme poverty rate dropped from nearly 36 per cent of the global population in 1990 to 10 per cent in 2015. And, thirdly, when the threat of famine has arisen, countries and organizations have set aside their differences and shared knowledge and resources to avert the crises through decisive action. Before the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which may unfortunately reverse previous gains, we had got to the point where the risk of famines was confined to places in conflict. That is one of the reasons that resolution 2417 (2018) is so important. It explicitly recognized the links between armed conflict, food insecurity and the threat of famine. Those links are clear.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“Two years ago, the Security Council adopted resolution 2417 (2018), asking that it be swiftly informed of the risk of conflict-induced famine and wide-spread food insecurity. And so I join members today, together with Qu Dongyu and David Beasley, to highlight rising food insecurity and the risk of famine in several countries. Famines have existed throughout human history, and almost every country has suffered them. But, remarkably, the world got much better at preventing them in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Famines are now less frequent and less lethal for three main reasons. First, agricultural output and productivity have expanded. Food has become more available and affordable to millions of people.”
2020-09-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/930 (2020) · source
“The majority of assistance continues to be provided from within Syria, reaching more than 4 million people each month. In July, humanitarian operations from within Syria reached 4.6 million people. That includes food assistance delivered to 3.8 million people, more than 900,000 medical procedures and more than 1 million treatment courses. All efforts are being made to continue routine immunizations, which have been disrupted in Syria — as in some other parts of the world — as a result of the pandemic. Over a five-day campaign in August, a UNICEF-supported programme administered polio vaccines to 23,000 children aged under five years in rural Damascus. However, the need for much larger campaigns is increasingly acute and, in their absence, the number of avoidable infant and child deaths will grow.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“The distribution of medical supplies from the most recent WHO overland shipment to reach the north-east in July is still ongoing. Recipient facilities so far include 17 hospitals, of which 12 were previously supported by the United Nations through cross-border operations. We hope that the ongoing distribution will further expand the previous reach of such cross-line deliveries. Turning now to Rukban, it has been a year since the humanitarian operation accessed the camp. The situation for the 12,000 remaining civilians is deteriorating and unsustainable. I reiterate my call for humanitarian actors to be granted access to Rukban to deliver life-saving assistance to the civilians remaining there. Allow me to close with a few words on the assistance that humanitarian agencies continue to provide across Syria.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“It is crucial that all parties facilitate the passage of humanitarian supplies into the north-east, in particular as we continue to work to narrow the gap in medical assistance coverage since the removal of Al-Yarubiyah as an authorized crossing point for United Nations cross-border assistance. Dozens of primary health centres and mobile medical units that are key to the front-line health response have yet to receive cross-line supplies. Local supply chains for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies have also been disrupted by the economic situation. Key medicines, such as insulin, have been in short supply for months as a result. One non-governmental organization partner that supports 38 health facilities has reported a complete stock-out of insulin, as well as shortages of critical medicines for non-communicable diseases.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“The United Nations, working with others, also continues to engage with relevant parties to move forward with plans for cross-line assistance to the north- west. Unfortunately, agreement has not yet been reached on the operational details of the mission. I call on all parties to redouble their efforts to find a solution to allow that mission to go forward. Turning to the north-east, in addition to the existing constraints in delivering cross-line assistance, in recent weeks several cross-line humanitarian deliveries dispatched to Qamishli were delayed at Al-Tabqa crossing point as a result of the new bureaucratic procedures imposed by local authorities. Those procedures affected more than 100 aid trucks in total. The trucks were able to cross at Al-Tabqa this morning.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“All United Nations humanitarian deliveries into the north-west, including to northern Aleppo, are now dispatched via the Bab Al-Hawa border crossing, in line with resolution 2533 (2020). With the United Nations expanding its loading facility at the Bab Al-Hawa border crossing, we believe that sufficient capacity can be established to manage increased traffic at the border crossing, while still maintaining COVID-19 safety measures. The initial humanitarian convoys from Bab Al-Hawa to those areas previously covered from Bab Al-Salaam faced significant challenges on the Syrian side of the border. Some were substantially delayed and one had to turn back completely. Since then, agreements have been reached with parties for simplified bureaucratic procedures to support the unimpeded passage of humanitarian deliveries across lines of control.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“During the most recent disruption, which lasted two weeks, more than 1,000 cases of diarrhoea were reported in health centres in the area, as many families were forced to use water from alternative and unsafe sources. Following the constructive and welcome engagement of a number of Member States, water from Allouk reached several neighbourhoods of Al-Hasakah city in the evening of 27 August. I hope that reflects a shared recognition that it is ultimately in everyone’s interests to keep the water flowing. Also on the issue of humanitarian access, the United Nations is adjusting its cross-border operations into north-west Syria to meet the needs of millions who rely on those operations for life-saving assistance.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“At least 27 civilians were killed, 13 of them children, by explosive remnants across the country between 1 August and 13 September. We are monitoring with concern the humanitarian impact of the increase in the activities of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in recent months. ISIL attacks displaced 200 households in eastern Hamah during July and August. Let me now turn to the supply of water essential for civilians’ survival and the protection of critical water infrastructure in north-eastern Syria. We have seen disruptions at the Allouk water station for almost a year now. Every time operations stop, the water supply is cut off for at least 460,000 people in Al-Hasakah city, Tal Tamer and surrounding areas, including in Al-Hol and Arishah camps. The health consequences are serious.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“In the north-west, while the situation remains relatively stable, we continue to receive reports of ceasefire violations, with shelling close to front lines in the Idlib area and in areas south of the M4 highway. In August, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recorded at least four civilian deaths and nine civilian injuries as a result of shelling in the so-called de-escalation area. In southern Syria, reports of kidnappings and targeted attacks continue on an almost daily basis. At least 26 civilians, including four children, were killed and five civilians, including a child, were injured in such incidents in Dar’a between 1 August and 13 September. Explosive hazards also continue to claim lives across the country.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“Monitoring by the World Food Programme shows that the price of a standard reference food basket has increased by more than 250 per cent on last year. Recent data also show the impact of COVID-19 on businesses, with 45 per cent temporarily shut down, 25 per cent operating at a reduced level and 15 per cent permanently closed. In the north-west, where an estimated 45 per cent of households draw their income from day labour, more than 70 per cent of households say their income does not cover their needs — an increase of 10 per cent since January. My next point is on the protection of civilians and the critical infrastructure on which they rely.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“I echo again High Commissioner Bachelet and others in urging States to immediately assume responsibility for all their nationals, in accordance with their obligations under international law. Many in Al-Hol, including orphans and unaccompanied children, have experienced severe psychological distress and trauma, in addition to physical harm. It is cruel and inhumane simply to leave them detained in their current bad conditions. My second point is the humanitarian impact of the economic downturn. The value of the Syrian pound has remained relatively stable in recent weeks, trading in informal markets at around 2,100 Syrian pounds to the dollar. But food prices remain at the highest level ever recorded.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“That mission has since taken place. It aimed to strengthen capacities for managing critical and urgent medical cases. The United Nations and other humanitarian organizations continue to provide a range of critical assistance in Al-Hol, including emergency, primary and reproductive health care. The Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, Imran Riza, made his third visit to Al-Hol last week. He was again struck by the number of children living in incredibly difficult conditions there. Let us recall that two thirds of the 65,000 residents in Al-Hol are children and that they come from more than 60 different countries. Their situation must be addressed in a much more serious way than it has been hitherto, and in a manner that treats them first and foremost as children who are victims.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“Supply shortages and temporary shutdowns add even more pressure to the decimated health system. Analysis by my Office has shown that, in low-income countries, disruptions to health care caused by the pandemic could result in more, otherwise preventable, deaths than the pandemic itself. On 27 August, the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported among residents at the Al-Hol and Arishah internally displaced persons camps in the north-east. Five health-care workers at one of the field hospitals in Al-Hol had tested positive in the previous weeks. My deputy briefed the Security Council last month on plans for an inter-agency mission to Al-Hol, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), following the deaths of eight children under five years of age in less than a week in early August (see S/2020/866, annex I).”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“I will focus today on five areas: first, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak; secondly, the humanitarian impact of the economic downturn; thirdly, the protection of civilians; fourthly, humanitarian access; and, fifthly, the assistance that humanitarian agencies are delivering across Syria. Reports from inside Syria continue to point to a much broader spread of COVID-19 than the number of confirmed cases — currently at 3,618 — conveys. We will not be able to grasp the extent of the outbreak until the laboratory testing capacity is increased across the country. We know that community transmission is widespread, as almost 90 per cent of newly confirmed cases cannot be traced to a known source. Infection rates among health workers have also been rising. Syria lacked the health workers it needed even before the pandemic.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“I will start by paying tribute to three humanitarian colleagues killed in northern Aleppo on Monday. A staff member of the Turkish Red Crescent was killed when his vehicle, which was reportedly clearly marked, was attacked north of Al-Bab town. On Monday evening, a doctor who worked for the Syrian organization Hand in Hand for Aid and Development was killed, along with a staff member of a local relief organization and at least 11 other civilians, when a car bomb detonated in Afrin city. Humanitarian workers across Syria are taking personal risks to deliver aid every day. They must be protected.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/915 (2020) · source
“Let me conclude by seeking the Security Council’s support in three areas. First, the Council should continue its backing for efforts to find political solutions to end the violence. South Sudan needs a stable political and security environment to recover from the impacts of prolonged conflict. Humanitarian need will persist as long as conflict and underdevelopment persist. Secondly, the Council should use its influence to ensure that humanitarian relief operations are facilitated and aid workers are protected. Thirdly, I call on the Council to provide additional resources for the Humanitarian Response Plan.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/914 (2020) · source
“Aid supplies have been looted on at least 17 occasions, and a number of health centres have been forced to suspend activities, interrupting life-saving services. Notwithstanding an extremely challenging operating environment, the humanitarian response in South Sudan is keeping millions of people from sliding into famine. Despite COVID-19, humanitarian workers continue to deliver aid and help save lives. Aid agencies have assisted more than 5 million people across South Sudan in 2020. But continued funding is needed to sustain health services and other life- saving programmes. As a result of the fighting, flooding and COVID-19, funding needs continue to grow. The South Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan is now larger than ever, at $1.9 billion, funded to the tune of approximately one-third to date.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/914 (2020) · source
“The violence continues to take its toll on women and girls, who face extreme levels of sexual and gender-based violence. Most incidents between May and July this year occurred during waves of local violence, with survivors unable to access timely medical or psychosocial assistance. South Sudan also remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for humanitarian workers. At least 122 aid workers have been killed since 2013. While we saw an improvement in the operational environment in 2019, it is now deteriorating again as a result of increased violence. This year, seven aid workers have been killed. Another 144 have had to be evacuated and relocated as a result of threats to their security.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/914 (2020) · source
“This year’s violence has resulted in hundreds of people killed, another 157,000 displaced and the abduction of large numbers of women and children. Although the peace agreement in 2018 has allowed an expansion in humanitarian coverage and enabled some 1.1 million displaced people to return, about 1.6 million remain internally displaced. In order to address that, what is needed is sustainable peace, land allocation and the presence of basic services in areas of return or where people choose to settle, including in urban areas. An additional 2.2 million South Sudanese are still refugees in neighbouring countries, mainly in Ethiopia, the Sudan and Uganda, where the generosity of host communities is being stretched and tested due to limited funding for the refugee response.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/914 (2020) · source
“The authorities imposed a range of restrictions early in the pandemic, including on humanitarian agencies. They are being addressed through ongoing negotiations, and domestic travel restrictions for humanitarian workers have recently been lifted. However, other challenges continue to limit on-the-ground presence in some conflict-affected areas, such as Jonglei. Humanitarian agencies are looking at how to set up small humanitarian hubs in remote areas to enable aid workers to deploy more rapidly. Stocks are also being pre-positioned ahead of the rainy season, when transport access will deteriorate, and larger distributions of rations are taking place. I am also concerned about the safety of civilians and aid workers.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/914 (2020) · source
“The Council of Ministers has decided that schools, closed since March, can reopen, but 2.2 million children were already out of school before COVID-19. Two consecutive years of severe flooding have exacerbated food insecurity, malnutrition and displacement. Last year, nearly 1 million people were affected. The floods started earlier this year, and more than 500,000 people have so far been affected. We fear the worst is yet to come, with the peak of the flooding season normally in November and December. Humanitarian access has been challenging in South Sudan for years, but the pandemic, along with increased violence in some areas, has magnified pre-existing access challenges. The capacity of humanitarian agencies to reach people who need aid is now limited in some areas.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/914 (2020) · source
“The Government has little money to respond to the health and socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic. The price of basic commodities has increased sharply. For example, the price of maize flour, which many people rely on, increased by 50 per cent between March and July. COVID-19 is also adding to the pressure on an already fragile health system. Years of conflict have devastated basic services, including the health-care system. South Sudan has one of the highest under-five mortality rates in the world. Approximately 75 per cent of all child deaths in South Sudan are due to preventable diseases, such as diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia, with malnourished children succumbing where the better fed would not.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/914 (2020) · source
“Famine-like conditions — Integrated Food Security Phase Classification phase 5 at the household level, in the jargon — are reported in Jonglei and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area. The violence in those areas has destroyed livelihoods, forced people to flee their homes and driven down food production. A 19-year-old woman from Pibor recently told United Nations staff: “We have been living a miserable life. This all started in February, and we did not expect this situation to last for so long. I ran into the bush with my three- month-old daughter. She was sick and died in July. Today is the first time that I have had access to a health-care facility since February.” South Sudan’s economy is contracting, affected by lower global oil prices and the wider global recession.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/914 (2020) · source
“Nearly 6.5 million people — more than half the population — faced severe food insecurity at the height of the annual hunger season a few months ago. COVID-19 has made this worse. Another 1.6 million vulnerable people, mainly in urban settings, have been pushed to the brink. Overall this year, 7.5 million people now need humanitarian assistance, which is close to the levels in 2017, when we warned of famine. One million three hundred thousand children under the age of five are forecast to be malnourished. That is the highest in four years. To put it another way, about 10 per cent of the entire population of South Sudan will be malnourished children who have not yet reached their fifth birthday. The risk of famine is emerging again in areas suffering localized violence.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/914 (2020) · source
“Let me complement David Shearer’s briefing today by focusing on three main areas: first, the humanitarian situation and the outlook in the coming months; secondly, the protection of civilians and aid workers; and, thirdly, the support that humanitarian agencies need to ensure their work can continue. Despite some encouraging developments since the signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan in September 2018 and the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity this year, humanitarian needs, already high after years of conflict, are again now rising due to more violence, flooding and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is bringing a host of health and wider consequences, including increasing food insecurity.”
2020-09-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/914 (2020) · source
“The costs to taxpayers are minimal because the resources can largely be generated off the international financial institutions’ own balance sheets. To speak plainly, woefully inadequate economic and political action will lead to greater instability and conflicts in the coming years. More crises will be on the Council’s agenda. The burden of my advice to the Council today is therefore that, while we may have been surprised by the virus, we cannot say the same of the security and humanitarian crises that most certainly lay ahead if we do not change course.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“Low-income and fragile countries do not have the resources, capacity or access to markets to do the same thing. They are reliant on support from elsewhere, especially the international financial institutions. However, of the $143 billion in financing from the international financial institutions so far, only 7 per cent has been committed to low-income countries. That represents little more than 2 per cent of their combined gross domestic product — one fifth of what the better-off countries have done at home. Such a low level of support is alarming because it increases the likelihood of the pandemic generating the kind of dangerous long-term consequences that I talked about earlier. It is also surprising: there is little dispute about what ought to be done, and recent experience has shown that it can work.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“In the 2008-2009 financial crisis, the leading shareholders of the international financial institutions, most of which are countries members of the Security Council today, agreed that they should take exceptional measures to protect the global economy, including their poorer members. The pandemic is a more damaging event than the financial crisis, but this time the response has been far from exceptional: it barely justifies the description of tepid. The countries of the Group of Twenty and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have rightly adopted domestic economic stimulus measures, amounting to more than $10 trillion, to protect their own populations from the worst effects of the pandemic and lockdown. That amounts to more than 10 per cent of global income.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“Alongside assistance from humanitarian agencies, others, in particular the international financial institutions, have an important role to play in helping the most vulnerable countries cope through the crisis. I want to say a few words about that, because the more generous, prompt and effective the help that the most vulnerable countries receive from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and similar institutions, the more people in crisis can be cushioned from the worst effects of the economic crunch and the more the risks to instability and fragility can be avoided.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“During the first six months of the pandemic, the International Committee of the Red Cross recorded more than 600 incidents of violence, harassment or stigmatization against health-care workers, patients and medical infrastructure in relation to COVID-19. Aid workers themselves are also vulnerable to the virus. The number of confirmed cases among United Nations staff alone runs into the thousands, and the death toll is mounting. Where possible, those who are most sick are evacuated to places where they can obtain good medical care, but too often that does not happen. I want to pay tribute to those taking extraordinary risks with their own welfare in the desire to help others.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“The Secretary-General has repeatedly called on Member States and others to facilitate the movement of humanitarian personnel and cargo, including by issuing special movement permits, clearances and visas on arrival. Those calls have not been adequately heeded. In most of the countries where my Office is present, the restrictions imposed since March on visa issuance have delayed and curtailed the flow of aid workers to their duty stations. Currently, more than 1,000 international staff are affected. As a result, we are seeing a reduced operational presence in three quarters of the countries where we work, which is materially affecting programme delivery.We have also seen a disturbing further increase in violence against health workers.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“The Global Humanitarian Response Plan has also funded a unique logistics facility, under which the World Food Programme has stepped in to fill the gap left by disappearing commercial air services in many countries. The operation has so far transported 21,000 health and humanitarian workers to and from the front lines, as well as more than 56,000 cubic metres of essential cargo — equivalent to 66 Boeing 747s. Without that lifeline, many humanitarian operations would have shut down. My Office is publishing regular detailed reports on the implementation of the Global Humanitarian Response Plan, which contain more detail of how the money provided is being used.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“It has been repeatedly updated as the crisis has deepened, and it now seeks $10 billion over the next six months to support 250 million people in 63 countries. We have raised around $2.4 billion since March, and I want to express my thanks to those donors that have generously contributed. The money provided has meant that, among other things, humanitarian organizations have provided 730,000 health workers with personal protective equipment, including masks, gloves and gowns, provided information on the virus and how to protect oneself from it to more than 1 billion people in nearly 60 countries, reached nearly 100 million children with distance learning and provided tens of millions of people with soap, detergent and other improvements to water and sanitation systems.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“A slew of research from universities and think tanks in recent months has warned that all that will reinforce existing grievances and give succour to those with an agenda of restricting rights and liberties, as well as extremist groups and other criminal groups seeking to take advantage of the pandemic. The risks of conflict, instability, insecurity, violence and population displacement are therefore rising. In other words, the agenda of the Security Council, which members may think is plenty big enough already, is set to grow. That may be one of the main lasting effects of the pandemic. Let me turn now to the response of humanitarian agencies. In March, the Secretary-General launched the United Nations-coordinated Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“As in richer countries, we also see effects on education and the position of women. More than half a billion children in humanitarian crises and fragile contexts have been affected by school closures. Many girls who are now unable to go to school will never go back. Gender-based violence, including domestic violence, is increasing. Calls to some hotlines have increased sevenfold, while services have been curtailed. The indirect effects of the crisis will be higher poverty, lower life expectancy, more starvation, less education and more child death.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“Let me illustrate all that with two examples, on immunization and food security. Vaccination campaigns have been disrupted in 45 countries facing humanitarian or refugee crises or high levels of vulnerability from other causes. Disruptions to immunization could put more than 80 million children under the age of one at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases. The World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations report that food insecurity is spiking as people lose their incomes and have to reduce consumption. Twenty-seven countries are now in danger of a S/2020/897 S/2020/897 sharp deterioration in food security. Without timely action, child wasting could affect another 7 million children just in the first year of the pandemic.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“That is because people in fragile countries are highly vulnerable to killer diseases like measles, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDs and because infant mortality and the numbers of women losing their lives in childbirth are much higher than in better- off countries. Any reduction in the availability of very basic health services makes a big difference in such countries, and, unfortunately, there is evidence of a significant crunch on health services as a result of the pandemic. Health-care institutions are switching to try to tackle the virus. Health workers cannot, or do not want to, go to work. Budgets are not being funded. Immunization campaigns are being disrupted or delayed. And lockdowns have reduced the availability of vaccines, drugs and other health supplies.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“The most fragile countries are exposed to the global economy, so the worldwide contraction hurts them too, including through weakening commodity prices, declining remittances and disruptions to trade. The anti-COVID-19 measures fragile countries have taken themselves are also having a significant impact on incomes — lockdown measures are making it harder for people to make enough money to survive. That applies especially to daily laborers in the informal sector and to many women. Beyond the economy, the biggest indirect effect of the virus is on public services, especially health care and education. Of course, that is the case everywhere, but the impact in the most fragile countries is larger than in countries that are better off.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“Testing levels there are very low, and in some places many people are reluctant to seek help if they fall sick, perhaps because they fear being forced into quarantine in potentially unpleasant conditions or because they do not believe they will get any useful medical help even if they go to a health-care facility. The better news is that it seems possible that the fatality rate from COVID-19 may be lower in these fragile countries than initially feared. That news remains uncertain for the moment, but if true it would be a boon. Nevertheless, what is now sure beyond reasonable doubt is that the indirect consequences of the pandemic in the most fragile countries are dwarfing the impact of the virus itself. What are the indirect effects? They are chiefly economic.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“There is growing reason to believe that in the medium and longer term the weakest, most fragile and conflict-affected countries will be those worst affected by coronavirus disease (COVID-19). As of this morning, there are over 26 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally. The virus is everywhere. More than 860,000 people have died. Roughly a third of these cases and fatalities are in countries affected by humanitarian or refugee crises or those facing high levels of vulnerability. But those are just the confirmed cases. We do not know the full extent of COVID-19 in fragile countries.”
2020-09-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/897 (2020) · source
“The education requirement in the humanitarian response plan for Syria is currently just 24 per cent funded. I want to reiterate my appeal to invest in the education of Syria’s children. A third of school-aged children in Syria — 2.5 million children — are out of school. Another 1.6 million are at risk of dropping out of school. The number of out-of- school children has increased by 16 per cent since last year. With school closures due to COVID-19, that number is very likely to increase further. I briefed the Council last month (see S/2020/635) on thousands of school children crossing, or attempting to cross, lines of control to take their national exams. Amid simultaneous and seemingly insurmountable crises, they are not losing sight of their future. Neither should we.”
2020-07-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/758 (2020) · source
“The highest amounts were pledged by the European Commission, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands, France and Denmark. The humanitarian response plan for Syria, with a funding requirement of $3.4 billion in 2020, is 32 per cent funded halfway through the year, making it one of our better funded operations. I would like to thank donors for their generous contributions, without which we would be unable to help people throughout Syria. I also urge others to contribute so that the financial burden is shared more fairly. Another $384 million is needed for Syria under the COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan, of which 28 per cent has been received. In my statement to the fourth Brussels conference, I urged donors to give greater priority to education in their pledges.”
2020-07-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/758 (2020) · source
“Low water levels in the Euphrates River are adding to the water shortages and disrupting the electricity supply. Among the areas affected and facing significant water shortages is Al-Hol camp, which accommodates around 65,000 people. Children make up two thirds of the camp population and more than half — 35,000 children — are under the age of five. Aid agencies need better access to the camp to help those children. Let me conclude with some words on the funding situation for our humanitarian operations. On 30 June, the fourth Brussels pledging conference resulted in total pledges of $7.7 billion, of which $5.5 billion was pledged for 2020. Those pledges covered funding for humanitarian, resilience and development activities in Syria and across the region.”
2020-07-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/758 (2020) · source
“Another 34 civilians were killed, including 15 children, and at least 98 were wounded by attacks using improvised explosive devices in residential areas and local markets, and in incidents involving landmines and explosive remnants of war. We are also monitoring with concern the increased level of violence and attacks in Dara’a. In Rukban, the lack of regular humanitarian assistance or basic service access has created a critical situation for the 12,000 people thought to remain there. I reiterate the urgency of delivering assistance to the remaining civilians and of supporting continued voluntary departures. In the north-east, the water supply from the Allouk water station was again disrupted this month, affecting 460,000 civilians in Al-Hasakah governorate.”
2020-07-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/758 (2020) · source
“In some parts of the country, recent surveillance data show that chronic malnutrition among children under 5 years old is now at 29 per cent, as compared to 19 per cent around this time last year.My third point is on the obligation to respect and protect civilians. The ceasefire reached in March in the north-west between the Russian Federation and Turkey is largely holding, but some air and ground-based strikes have been reported in recent weeks. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights recorded at least five civilian deaths, including two children, and 26 civilians, including seven children, injured as a result of shelling and air strikes this month.”
2020-07-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/758 (2020) · source
“After falling to its lowest recorded informal rate in June, at 3,200 Syrian pound to the United States dollar, the pound has been regaining value, but so far that has not translated into price reductions and the cost of essentials continues to rise. Market monitoring by the World Food Programme recorded a 48 per cent increase in the average price of a standard reference food basket between May and June. Food prices are 240 per cent higher than in June last year. That means that families across the country can no longer afford the very basics, as clearly reflected by food security and nutrition indicators. In addition, some 9.3 million people are food insecure and more than 2 million are at risk of becoming food insecure. In all, 86 per cent of households say they are buying lower quality food or less food or skipping meals.”
2020-07-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/758 (2020) · source
“My second point today is on the impact of the economic downturn. The Syrian economy, devastated by nearly a decade of conflict, has entered a period of extreme fragility, marked by exchange-rate volatility, high inflation, dwindling remittances and lockdown measures to contain COVID-19. The economy is expected to contract by more than 7 per cent this year. Initial estimates suggest that, due to job losses in recent months, unemployment has risen from 42 per cent last year to close to 50 per cent today. Remittances from abroad, a lifeline on which many Syrians depend, have fallen. Estimated remittances from Gulf States alone are now $2 million a day, down from $4.4 million in 2017, and $7 to $12 million in 2010.”
2020-07-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/758 (2020) · source
“With the adoption, on 11 July, of resolution 2533 (2020) to extend authorization for United Nations cross-border aid delivery into north-west Syria, we are working to address the operational challenges arising from the Council’s decision. The United Nations is also helping tackle the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Syria. The problem is now country-wide — cases have now been confirmed in all but one of Syria’s governorates, and United Nations staff working in Syria have also been struck by the disease. The number of confirmed cases remains in the hundreds, a relatively low level. The true number of cases is certainly higher, as the limited testing capacity, compared to what is available in neighbouring countries, and a reluctance among some people to acknowledge the infection masks the real scale of the outbreak.”
2020-07-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/758 (2020) · source
“I will focus today on four main areas: first, the support that humanitarian agencies are delivering to people across Syria; secondly, the economic situation and its humanitarian consequences; thirdly, the protection of civilians; and, fourthly, funding for the humanitarian operation. Humanitarian aid operations across Syria are reaching an average of 6.8 million people each month. The economic crisis is deepening poverty and pushing more people into humanitarian need. In all, 4.6 million people are receiving monthly food assistance, more than 8.9 million medical procedures have been conducted and more than 1.6 million children have received help with their education.”
2020-07-29 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/758 (2020) · source