OCHA - Press Conference: Briefing on the first regional mission of UN and NGO Emergency Directors to the Middle East
/
29:24
/
MP4
/
1.7 GB
Transcripts
Teleprompter
Download

Edited News , Press Conferences | OCHA

OCHA - Press Conference: Briefing on the first regional mission of UN and NGO Emergency Directors to the Middle East

More than 280,000 people have been uprooted in northwest Syria in a matter of days following the sudden and massive offensive into Government-controlled areas led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is sanctioned by the Security Council as a terrorist group.

Aid has continued to flow from Türkiye across three border crossings into the embattled northwest and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that it had opened community kitchens in Aleppo and Hama – cities now reportedly occupied by HTS fighters.

In neighbouring Lebanon, meanwhile, senior UN aid official Edem Wosornu expressed deep concerns for the safety of more than 600,000 people who have begun to return to their devastated homes, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah kicked in on 27 November. “I'm sure they are settling back, the problem is what they would find when they go back home,” she told journalists in Geneva, highlighting the potential dangers to farmers from unexploded ordnance.

Syria: a crisis upon a crisis

Speaking in Geneva after a joint UN and NGO Emergency Directors assessment mission to the Middle East from 25 November to 1 December, the UN World Food Programme (WFP’s) Samer AbdelJaber described Syria’s new unfolding emergency as “a crisis on top of another” – a reference to the country’s civil war that began in 2011, sparked by a civil uprising against the Government. Since then, it has drawn in regional and international powers and defied the efforts of the Security Council and wider global community to bring it to an end. Hundreds of thousands are believed to have been killed and many more are believed to remain in the Government’s prisons.

Mr. AbdelJaber, who heads WFP’s Emergency Coordination, Strategic Analysis and Humanitarian Diplomacy arm, warned that around 1.5 million people are likely to be displaced “and will be requiring our support. Of course, the humanitarian partners are working on both sides of the front lines we're trying to reach the communities wherever their needs are.”

The WFP official noted that the sudden escalation has not shut down three humanitarian border crossings with Türkiye and that aid continues to flow into Aleppo, Syria’s second city. The UN agency “has opened and supported two community kitchens that are providing hot meals in both Aleppo as well as in Hama,” he said, adding that “the aid partners are on the ground and doing everything they can to basically provide the assistance to the people”.

Millions of Syrians are already in crisis because of the war which has destroyed the economy and people’s livelihoods, threatening their survival. “It’s at a breaking point at the moment in Syria, after 13 or 14 years of a conflict, over three million Syrians are severely food insecure and cannot afford enough food,” Mr. AbdelJaber said, adding that a total of 12.9 million people in Syria needed food assistance before the latest crisis.

Despite the clear need for more support, international funding for Syria’s $4.1 billion humanitarian response plan “faces its largest shortfall ever”, the WFP official continued, with less than one-third needed for 2024 received to date.

Lebanon returnees in danger

In neighbouring Lebanon, senior UN humanitarian official Edem Wosornu, Director, Operations and Advocacy Division at the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said that people affected by the war between Israel and Hezbollah fighters “have returned faster than they even left the conflict; more than 600,000 people have begun to go back home, and as we speak, I'm sure they are settling back. The problem is what they would find when they go back home and the need for our response to pivot very quickly.”

Among those in need today are many Syrian refugees who fled the war in their country, only to be displaced several times since their arrival, explained Isabel Gomes, Global Lead of Disaster Management at NGO World Vision International: “There was this particular girl that we spoke with; she told us the story that at the time of the conflict, when she had to move, she was pregnant, close to nine months, and she had to walk kilometres and kilometres and kilometres. Then she asked us if she could show us her baby, and we saw her baby was two months. But when we asked if the baby had received vaccines, she said the baby had never received vaccines.”

Returning farming communities also face deadly dangers from the fighting in southern Lebanon’s wartorn zones, OCHA’s Ms. Wosornu explained: “We also are concerned about the impact of mines and unexploded ordnance in the some of these locations…we are really asking our mine action colleagues and others to support the Government in demining activities because when people who want to go back home, who’ve gone back home, the farmers who are trying to salvage the rest of the olive harvest, there's fears that this that could be impact there.”

ends

Syria, Lebanon update – OCHA, WFP, World Vision International

TRT: 03 min 35s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 06 DECEMBER 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Speakers:

  • Edem Wosornu, Director, Operations and Advocacy Division, OCHA, and Emergency Directors Group Chair
  • Samer AbdelJaber, Director, Emergency Coordination, Strategic Analysis and Humanitarian Diplomacy, WFP
  • Isabel Gomes, Global Lead Disaster Management, World Vision International


SHOTLIST

    1. Exterior médium-wide: UN Geneva flag alley.
    2. Medium wide, UN Geneva Press room, podium and speakers.
    3. SOUNDBITE (English) Samer AbdelJaber, Director, Emergency Coordination, Strategic Analysis and Humanitarian Diplomacy, WFP: “The recent escalation is a crisis on top of another. Over 280,000 people have fled their homes in northwest Syria; this number could go up very fast. Throughout the mission, it was clear that there is no humanitarian solution to the crisis that besets this region.”
    4. Medium wide, UN Geneva Press room, podium and speakers.
    5. SOUNDBITE (English) Samer AbdelJaber, Director, Emergency Coordination, Strategic Analysis and Humanitarian Diplomacy, WFP: “So far, the three border crossings with Türkiye are still operational, so we didn't see any impact on the crossings. Aid is coming in by different partners supporting the aid deliveries from [the] Türkiye side. But maybe also in Aleppo, I can say there is distributions of aid; WFP, for example, has opened and supported two community kitchens that are providing hot meals in both Aleppo as well as in Hama, so, the aid partners are on the ground and doing everything they can to basically provide the assistance to the people.”
    6. Medium-wide, speakers at podium, Press room.
    7. SOUNDBITE (English) Samer AbdelJaber, Director, Emergency Coordination, Strategic Analysis and Humanitarian Diplomacy, WFP: “It’s at a breaking point at the moment in Syria, after 13 or 14 years of a conflict, over three million Syrians are severely food insecure and cannot afford enough food and malnutrition is at global levels - emergency levels - a total of 12.9 million people in Syria were classified as food insecure and needed food assistance before the recent crisis. So that’s why it’s another call for support for funding to all the organizations and humanitarians working across and all over Syria.”
    8. Medium, journalist.
    9. SOUNDBITE (English) Samer AbdelJaber, Director, Emergency Coordination, Strategic Analysis and Humanitarian Diplomacy, WFP: “The humanitarian response in Syria faces its largest shortfall ever, with less than a third of the [$] 4.1 billion needed for 2024 received to date, immediate investment in serious humanitarian and recovery efforts is crucial to ensure that the needs of those who crossed back are adequately met.”
    10. Medium-wide, automatic camera and TV screen showing Edem Wosornu.
    11. SOUNDBITE (English) Edem Wosornu, Director, Operations and Advocacy Division, OCHA, and Emergency Directors Group Chair: “People have returned faster than they even left the conflict; more than 600,000 people have begun to go back home, and as we speak, I'm sure they are settling back. The problem is what they would find when they go back home and the need for our response to pivot very quickly.”
    12. Medium-wide, Press room, journalists.
    13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Isabel Gomes, Global Lead Disaster Management, World Vision International: “There was this particular girl that we spoke with; she told us the story that at the time of the conflict, when she had to move, she was pregnant, close to nine months, and she had to walk kilometres and kilometres and kilometres. Then she asked us if she could show us her baby, and we saw her baby was two months. But when we asked if the baby had received vaccines, she said the baby had never received vaccines.”
    14. Medium, Edem Wosornu speaking into mic.
    15. SOUNDBITE (English) – Edem Wosornu, Director, Operations and Advocacy Division, OCHA, and Emergency Directors Group Chair: “We also are concerned about the impact of mines and unexploded ordnance in the some of these locations. We've seen the impacts of this across in different contexts and we are really asking our mine action colleagues and others to support the Government in demining activities because when people who want to go back home, who’ve gone back home, the farmers who are trying to salvage the rest of the olive harvest, there's fears that this that could be impacted there.”
    16. Wide, TV journalists, control booths.
    17. Medium-wide, journalists filming with mobile phone.


Documents 1
Download Storyline
Download

Audio Files 2
Download OCHA - Press Conference: Briefing on the first regional mission of UN and NGO Emergency Directors to the Middle East (Continuity)
Download
Download Syria, Lebanon update – OCHA, WFP, World Vision International 06 December 2024 (Edited Story)
Download

Similar Stories

Not a Target UN Protest 18 September 2025

1

1

1

Edited News | UNITED NATIONS

Not a Target UN Protest 18 September 2025 ENG FRA

United Nations agencies staff demonstrate on Place des Nations in Geneva, to denounce their colleagues killed in Gaza since October 2023 

WMO - world water monitor 18 September 2025

1

1

1

Edited News | WMO

WMO - world water monitor 18 September 2025 ENG FRA

The world’s water resources face growing pressure from climate change while emergencies related to the vital resource are increasingly impacting lives and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.

WMO Press conference - 18 September 2025

1

2

1

Press Conferences | WMO

WMO Press conference - 18 September 2025 ENG FRA

WMO State of Global Water Resources Report 2024

OHCHR/ Special Procedures - Press conference: Special Rapporteur on UCM - 17 September 2025

1

1

1

Press Conferences | OHCHR

OHCHR/ Special Procedures - Press conference: Special Rapporteur on UCM - 17 September 2025 ENG FRA

Impact of unilateral coercive measures on economic, labour and social rights

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk Remarks to HRC 60 Urgent debate

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk Remarks to HRC 60 Urgent debate ENG FRA

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk addressed the Human Rights Council during a meeting on the Israeli strike on negotiators in Qatar on Tuesday. “Israel’s strike on negotiators in Doha on 9 September was a shocking breach of international law, an assault on regional peace and stability, and a blow against the integrity of mediation and negotiating processes around the world,” he said.

Gaza Al-Mawasi update - UNICEF

1

1

1

Edited News | UNICEF

Gaza Al-Mawasi update - UNICEF ENG FRA

Gaza: Thirsty and starving, war-battered families face ‘inhumane’ evacuation 

As bombs continue to fall on Gaza City as part of the intensifying Israeli military operation, families with starving children are being pushed southwards from one “hellscape” to another, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.

UN Geneva Press Briefing - 16 September 2025

1

1

1

Press Conferences | IOM , UNICEF

UN Geneva Press Briefing - 16 September 2025 ENG FRA

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the representatives and spokespersons of the United Nations Children’s Fund and the International Organization for Migration.

HRC Press conference: Commission of Inquiry (COI) on OPT, including East Jerusalem, and Israel - 16 Sept. 2025

1

1

1

Press Conferences | HRC , UNOG

HRC Press conference: Commission of Inquiry (COI) on OPT, including East Jerusalem, and Israel - 16 Sept. 2025 ENG FRA

Latest report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.

OHCHR/ Special Procedures - Press conference: Special Rapporteurs on OPT - 15 September 2025

1

1

1

Press Conferences | OHCHR

OHCHR/ Special Procedures - Press conference: Special Rapporteurs on OPT - 15 September 2025 ENG FRA

Press briefing: Human rights situation in Gaza and across the occupied Palestinian territory

UNIDIR Press conference on Cluster Munitions - 15 September 2025

1

2

1

Press Conferences | UNIDIR

UNIDIR Press conference on Cluster Munitions - 15 September 2025 ENG FRA

Launch of the Cluster Munition Monitor 2025 report

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell on DPRK

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell on DPRK ENG FRA

New UN Human Rights report finds 10 years of increased suffering repression and fear

The UN Human Rights Office on Friday published a report on the human rights situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) since 2014. 

Afghanistan update - UNICEF UNHCR 12 September 2025

1

1

2

Edited News | UNICEF , UNHCR

Afghanistan update - UNICEF UNHCR 12 September 2025 ENG FRA

The ongoing humanitarian response to the devastating Afghanistan earthquake disaster continued on Friday, although essential services have been cut for operational reasons following reinforced Taliban restrictions on women working with the UN, the global body said.