WFP WHO Syria Aid Appeal 25 June 2021
/
3:30
/
MP4
/
511.2 MB

Edited News | WHO , UNOG , WFP

UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: WFP-WHO Syria Aid Appeal 25 June 2021

Syria’s last cross-border aid lifeline must stay open, insist UN humanitarians

The imminent closure of the last cross-border aid lifeline to north-west Syria must be postponed beyond the 10 July deadline, UN humanitarians said on Friday, noting that no cross-line supplies had reached Idlib from Damascus in nearly a year.

The development follows an appeal by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to the Security Council to continue to allow convoys to pass through the Bab al-Hawa crossing from Turkey for another year.

“A failure to extend the Council’s authorization would have devastating consequences”, he said on Wednesday, highlighting that cross-line aid assistance “at present levels” could not replace the quantities that were delivered cross-border.

Speaking in Geneva on Friday, World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson Tomson Phiri said that the renewal of the UN resolution allowing cross-border operation was critical, since “millions of lives are at stake”.

Mr. Phiri explained that 2.4 million people “depend entirely on cross-border assistance for their basic needs including food. The majority of these people are women and children, many of whom have been displaced multiple times.”

More than 1,000 trucks have transported food, medicine and other items through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing each month over the past year, as part of a wider UN humanitarian operation that is the biggest in the world.

Around $10 billion is needed to support people affected by the conflict, whether in the country or as refugees across the region.

Inside Syria, needs are massive and growing, however.

“Today, an estimated 12.4 million Syrians are food insecure and this amounts to nearly 60 per cent of the population who do not know what they will eat tomorrow. This is an increase of 4.5 million people in only one year,” said Mr. Phiri.

Those living in Idlib in Syria’s north-west – which is the last opposition stronghold after more than a decade of war – are among the most vulnerable.

“Of greatest concern today is north-west Syria, where nearly 30 per cent of the people WFP assists, live,” Mr. Phiri explained. “Similarly, 30 per cent of the food WFP ships into Syria is through the single remaining border crossing.”

The Bab al-Hawa crossing from Turkey is the last of four cross-border passages still open, after a 2014 UN Security Council resolution authorising humanitarian aid into opposition-held areas of Syria.

Spokesperson Christian Lindmeier from the World Health Organization (WHO) underscored the likely consequences for Idlib’s already weakened population if cross- border authorisation is not renewed: “It would not be possible to roll out reliable COVID vaccinations to the population and other campaigns to vaccinate children as well as other essential health activities including lifesaving care for chronic non-communicable diseases.”

“The COVID-19 response is heavily reliant on the UN including the vaccination roll-out,” he added. “The UN-supported COVAX mechanism is the only option for access to vaccines in the area, yet less than 0.58 per cent of the population has received one dose.”

The WHO spokesperson also insisted that cross-line convoys “even if deployed regularly would not replicate the size and scope of this (cross-border) operation. Despite significant continuing efforts by the UN, we have not yet managed to create the conditions to deploy the first cross-line convoy to north-west Syria and no cross-line convoys have crossed into north-west Syria from Damascus in the last 11 months.”

Securing enough food to eat inside Syria is a daily struggle, and families are now buying food on credit, WFP’s Mr. Phiri said.

“Food prices continue to rise and have increased by 247 per cent food price increase in the last year alone; families have exhausted their savings after years of conflict and are unable to afford basic meals.”

ends

STORY: Syria Cross-border Aid Appeal – WFP, WHO

TRT: 03 min 29s

SOURCE: UNTV CH

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / GERMAN

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 25 JUNE 2021 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

SHOTLIST

  1. Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations flag alley, nations’ flags flying, a sunny day.
  2. Wide shot, podium with speakers and large-screen TV showing external participant, in a near-empty Room XIV in line with COVID-19 distancing measures, side shot, Palais des Nations.
  3. SOUNDBITE (English) — Tomson Phiri, World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson: “The renewal of the UN resolution allowing cross-border operation is critical; millions of lives are at stake here; some 2.4 million people depend entirely on cross-border assistance for their basic needs including food. The majority of these people are women and children, many of whom have been displaced multiple times.”
  4. Medium shot, podium with speakers, shot from below.
  5. SOUNDBITE (English) — Tomson Phiri, World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson: “Today, an estimated 12.4 million Syrians are food insecure and this amounts to nearly 60 per cent of the population who do not know what they will eat tomorrow. This is an increase of 4.5 million people in only one year.”
  6. Close-up, journalist, masked and wearing listening device.
  7. SOUNDBITE (English) — Tomson Phiri, World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson: “Of greatest concern today is north-west Syria, where nearly 30 per cent of the people WFP assists, live. Similarly, 30 per cent of the food WFP ships into Syria is through this single remaining border crossing.”
  8. Medium shot, journalist typing on laptop in background, blurred, with conference microphones in focus in foreground.
  9. SOUNDBITE (English) — Christian Lindmeier, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson: “If cross-border authorisation is not renewed, it would not be possible to roll out reliable COVID vaccinations to the population and other campaigns to vaccinate children, as well as other essential health activities, including lifesaving care for chronic non-communicable diseases.”
  10. Medium shot, participant masked wearing glasses.
  11. SOUNDBITE (English) — Christian Lindmeier, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson: “Cross-line convoys, even if deployed regularly would not replicate the size and scope of this operation. Despite significant continuing efforts by the UN, we have not yet managed to create the conditions to deploy the first cross-line convoy to north-west Syria and no cross-line convoys have crossed into north-west Syria from Damascus in the last 11 months.”
  12. Medium shot, participant sitting in front of laptop with headphones.
  13. SOUNDBITE (English) — Christian Lindmeier, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson: “The COVID-19 response is heavily reliant on the UN including the vaccination roll-out. The UN-supported COVAX mechanism is the only option for access to vaccines in the area, yet less than 0.58 per cent of the population has received one dose.”
  14. Medium-wide shot, podium speakers with large TV screen showing external participant.
  15. SOUNDBITE (English) — Tomson Phiri, World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson: “Food prices continue to rise and have increased by 247 per cent food price increase in the last year alone; families have exhausted their savings after years of conflict and are unable to afford basic meals.”
  16. Medium shot, podium speaker partly obscured by TV tripod (blurred) in foreground.
  17. Medium shot, laptop showing virtual participants’ names.
  18. Wide shot, participant seated and masked, typing on laptop.
  19. Medium shot, journalist, seated and masked, looking at laptop.
  20. Medium shot, journalist, seated and masked, typing on laptop, profile.


Documents 1
Download Storyline
Download

Audio Files 1
Download UNOG-NEWS WFP WHO Syria Aid Appeal 25 June 2021
Download

Similar Stories

HRC60 Press Conference: Report of the Sudan Fact-Finding Mission - 09 September 2025

2

1

2

Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC

HRC60 Press Conference: Report of the Sudan Fact-Finding Mission - 09 September 2025 ENG FRA

Launch of the latest report of the Sudan Fact-Finding Mission.

Ukraine attacks - health update - WHO

1

1

1

Edited News | WHO

Ukraine attacks - health update - WHO ENG FRA

Ukraine: ‘Relentless’ attacks rattle health system as winter approaches: WHO

Ambulances attacked, chronically ill patients lacking care and no peace in sight: for millions of Ukrainians, the run-up to another winter of war is just the latest life-or-death challenge they face, the UN health agency (WHO) said on Tuesday.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights presents report on Sri Lanka to 60th HRC

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights presents report on Sri Lanka to 60th HRC ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his report on Sri Lanka to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

HRC 60 HC Volker Türk Global update speech

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG

HRC 60 HC Volker Türk Global update speech ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his global update to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

DRC: UN report raises spectre of war crimes and crimes against humanity

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

DRC: UN report raises spectre of war crimes and crimes against humanity ENG FRA

A UN report on the Democratic Republic of Congo raises specter of war crimes and crimes against humanity in North and South Kivu, according to UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.

Global air pollution update - WMO 04 September 2025

1

1

1

Edited News | WMO

Global air pollution update - WMO 04 September 2025 ENG FRA

As billions of people continue to breathe polluted air that causes more than 4.5 million premature deaths every year, UN climate experts on Friday highlighted how damaging microscopic smoke particles from wildfires play their part, travelling half-way across the world.

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Cameroon

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Cameroon ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence made the following comment on the on-going presidential election process in Cameroon at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva. 

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Myanmar

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Myanmar ENG FRA

The UN Human Rights Office released a new report on Myanmar, describing death, destruction and desperation which reflect atrocities committed in 2017. 

Afghanistan earthquake update OCHA - IFRC - UNHCR

1

1

1

Edited News | OCHA , IFRC , UNHCR

Afghanistan earthquake update OCHA - IFRC - UNHCR ENG FRA

Afghanistan: Humanitarians scramble to reach survivors of deadly quake; response at ‘breaking point’

In remote eastern Afghanistan, aid workers are racing to assist survivors of Sunday’s devastating earthquake as the death toll continues to climb, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Gaza - Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA

1

1

1

Edited News | UNRWA

Gaza - Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA ENG FRA

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, repeated his urgent call for a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday, amid increased military Israeli activity in the enclave’s largest city.

Gaza update - OCHA WHO 29 August 2025

1

1

1

Edited News | OCHA , WHO

Gaza update - OCHA WHO 29 August 2025 ENG FRA

Amid reports of increased Israeli military operations across Gaza City on Friday, UN aid agencies repeated urgent warnings of ongoing famine and a likely rise in preventable disease, linked to the dire living conditions in the war-shattered enclave.

OHCHR-Ravina Shamdasani: increasing executions in Iran

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

OHCHR-Ravina Shamdasani: increasing executions in Iran ENG FRA

UN calls for Iran to halt executions and move towards ending the death penalty.