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Edited News | UNHCR , UNITED NATIONS
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: Syrian Refugees UNHCR 16JUN2020
Syrian refugees resort to ever more desperate measures to resist pandemic impact
The COVID-19 crisis has put another 200,000 Syrian refugees in need of emergency assistance in the last three months alone, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, in an appeal for funding to confront new challenges posed by the health emergency.
Now well into its 10th year, the Syrian conflict has created more than 5.5 million refugees seeking shelter in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
“The number of vulnerable refugees who lack the basic resources to survive in exile has dramatically surged as a result of the public health emergency,” said UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic. “The refugee-hosting communities in countries in Syria’s neighbourhood experience similar hardships. Many refugees have lost what were already meagre incomes, forcing them to cut down on the most basic needs, including food and medication.”
Since pandemic lockdown measures were implemented in these countries, Mr. Mahecic explained that UNHCR has seen “in addition to the families that have already been identified as vulnerable, another 200,000 refugees just in this period of three months who because of the impact needed emergency assistance”.
Clear signs of distress among vulnerable individuals who have lost their jobs include coping measures “that would allow them to somehow make ends meet”, he added. “We have evidence of people trying to skip meals in order to spread out the food so it can last longer, they may skip taking medication, anything that is considered right now something where they can cut costs.”
Citing the urgent need for additional support to sustain humanitarian initiatives, Mr Mahecic explained that in Jordan, only 17,000 out of 49,000 newly identified vulnerable families received help, “as UNHCR is lacking the funds to extend its programmes”.
Prior to the pandemic, the majority of Syrian refugees in the region were living
below the poverty line, according to the UN agency, while a recent survey in Jordan showed that only 35 per cent of refugees said they had a secure job to return to after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.
More than six million internally displaced Syrians and other vulnerable groups remain inside Syria, according to UNHCR.
Before the onset of the virus, the agency’s $5.5 billion Syria Refugee Response and Resilience Plan 2020 appeal was only 20 per cent funded across the region. It is now updating its requirements to cope with additional needs and has appealed for strong international support to countries sheltering those in need.
“Host communities have shown great solidarity, but they have also suffered loss of livelihoods as a result the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mr Mahecic, adding that nine in 10 Syrian refugees in the region live in towns or villages and not in camps.
Beyond the immediate emergency, the UNHCR spokesperson highlighted the need to ensure that refugees were included in countries’ national public health responses to COVID-19, in addition to other basis services, including education.
“It is a very important point that the refugees, internally displaced, stateless people are included in the national public health responses,” he said. “Only if everybody’s being looked after and everybody’s safe, we can all be safe.”
- Wide shot: exterior, flag alley, Palais des Nations, United Nations Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “The number of vulnerable refugees who lack the basic resources to survive in exile has dramatically surged as a result of the public health emergency. The refugee-hosting communities in countries in Syria’s neighbourhood experience similar hardships. Many refugees have lost what were already meagre incomes, forcing them to cut down on the most basic needs, that includes food and medicine.”
- Wide shot: ‘Broken chair’ memorial in the Place des Nations, Geneva, with UN Geneva in background.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “We have now also seen in addition to the families that have already been identified as vulnerable, another 200,000 refugees just in this period of three months who, because of the impact needed emergency assistance.”
- Wide shot: UN flag fluttering in the wind, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “People resort to the measures that would allow them to somehow make ends meet. We have evidence of people trying to skip meals in order to spread out the food so it can last longer, they may skip taking medication, anything that is considered right now something where they can cut costs.”
- Medium shot: UN Geneva Palais des Nations, flag alley, UN flag.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “In Jordan for example, only 17,000 out of 49,000 newly identified vulnerable families received emergency cash support, as UNHCR is lacking the funds to extend its programmes.”
- Wide shot: elevated view of UN Geneva main entrance, with UN Palais des Nations complex below and mountains behind.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “It is a very important point that the refugees, internally displaced, stateless people are included in the national public health responses. Only if everybody’s being looked after and everybody’s safe, we can all be safe.”
- Medium shot: anti-war sculpture, Place des Nations, Geneva, with UN Geneva to rear.
- Medium-wide shot: UN Geneva flag alley.
- Medium shot: UN flag in UN Geneva flag alley, elevated view.
- Wide shot: UN Geneva flag alley.
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Edited News , Press Conferences | WMO
As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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Press Conferences , Edited News | WMO
Powerful El Niño heightens extreme-weather risks through 2027, as countries brace for impact - WMO
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Nepal flood deaths near 1,000 as those spared struggle to survive – UN humanitarians
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