Good morning everyone and apologies for this slight delay.
We had a bit of technical difficulties getting Damascus online, but here we are.
So welcome everyone joining WE have with us today.
I'm, I'm very pleased about that Mister Adam Abdul Mullah, who is the Resident Coordinator and humanitarian coordinator, So the kind of the highest ranking UN humanitarian official in Syria.
He will give some introductory remarks to speak about the situation as it is and then we will go straight to your questions.
So with that, Mister Abdul Mullah, over to you.
Thank you very much and good morning, everyone.
The urgency of the humanitarian situation in Syria today cannot be overstated.
Recently we marked a very grim anniversary of the Syria crisis, 13 years since it is beginning, and since then the needs of the people have grown exponentially, the numbers it speaks for for themselves.
Today, a saggering 16.7 million people require some form of humanitarian assistance in Syria, an increase from 15.3 million in 2023 and 14.6 million in 2022 /.
7 million people are internally displaced and nearly as many are refugees in other countries.
A majority are in neighbouring countries, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey etcetera.
At least 12.9 million people are foot insecure across the country.
The Syria crisis remains one of the most deadly to civilians in the world.
Hostilities continue to plague various parts of Syria and have recently seen a sharp spike, especially in the north.
From January 1st to December 31st, 2020, three.
454 civilians, including 88 women and 115 children, were killed as a result of the conflict.
The ongoing escalation in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and South Lebanon have already had spillover effects, including on affected populations and critical civilian infrastructure.
Across the Syrian territory.
Serious vulnerability to climate shocks exacerbated by conflict includes water scarcity, 355 cubic metres per capita, a 15% rainfall deficit in 2023 affecting water access for 615,000 people, temperature anomalies exceeding 40°C and heat waves impacting agriculture and livestock.
The devastating earthquake in February last year wreaked havoc on a situation that was already catastrophic.
The earthquakes killed some 6000 people and injured more than 12,800 in Syria, increasing the strain on services, causing displacement and inflicting widespread damage.
The economy is in freefall.
The Syrian currency continues to devaluate employment at lightening speeds as prices for the most basic commodities soar.
This is exacerbated by the collapse of basic social services and the lack of development assistance.
There is limited flexibility for humanitarian partners to meet only immediate life saving needs due to the increased and deepening vulnerability.
We hear daily how people are forced to forgo meals, pull their children from school so they can help support families, or mothers choosing to skip their medications in order to feed their children.
Furthermore, Syrians are increasingly driven to desperate measures as they undertake treacherous yearners to other countries in search of opportunities.
In many cases, they pay the ultimate price for these dangerous endeavours.
No human being should have to risk his or her life in search of a decent life.
Furthermore, when people are pushed to the brink, they may be exploited by radical extremist groups, creating further risk for the Syrian society and the world at at large.
Since the escalation in Gaza began, we have already seen multiple calls by ISIS inciting revenge attacks worldwide, including against Arab governments whom they accused of quote UN quote protecting Israel.
We are appealing for 4.07 billion, again 4.07 billion to provide life saving aid to 10.8 million Syrians out of 16.7 million people assess to be in need of assistance.
As the needs continue to rapidly increase, the ability of humanitarian partners to respond adequately is continuously inhibited.
As of the 1st of March, only .02 again .02% of the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan requirements have been funded.
This means that partners are facing challenges in scaling up the much needed response, with life saving programmes and services being curtailed, scaled back or unable to meet certain needs.
With so many crises taking place concurrently around the globe, we are facing a situation in which we are effectively scooping out water with a symbol from a quickly sinking ship.
Despite the enormous challenges and the complex operating environment in Syria, partners were able to reach 6.8 million people in need every month in 2023.
Today, we are facing an unprecedented situation in Syria, one that we cannot afford to ignore.
Inaction will be costly for all of us and will inevitably lead to additional suffering.
Inaction will mean that about 2.3 million women of reproductive age, including 500,000 pregnant and lactating women, may lose access to vital reproductive and maternal healthcare.
Millions more will go hungry, vulnerable people will not benefit from essential shelter interventions, and collective centres for displaced individuals will be underserved.
Underserved Heightening the risks in 2024 and much more to come.
Some 2.5 million out of school children will lose the chance to return to school and it's projected that the number could grow to 4,000,000 by the end of this year.
This will ultimately jeopardise the country's chances to have a young generation that can meaningfully contribute to building a path to stability and peace.
Humanitarian assistance provides the last line of defence for the crisis affected population.
In the absence of a political solution and a sustained and meaningful humanitarian assistance, the country risks further disintegration.
A further disintegrated Syria could destabilise the whole region.
We we are near weeks away from the senior officials meeting, which will be followed by the 8th Brussels Conference on Syria.
Discussions about the future of the people of Syria must translate to real action.
This means depoliticization of humanitarian assistance.
This means ensuring people can be reached regardless of where they live.
This means that partners are enabled to scale up interventions with adequate multi year sustained funding.
Finally, this means medium and long term investment into restoring basic services and livelihoods through early recovery and resilience programming.
Anything less will mean people will slide deeper into poverty and the situation will continue.
The people of Syria deserve better.
Thank you very much, Mr Abdul Mullah.
Indeed, they deserve better.
We will go to questions now.
I just remind correspondence that we have sent the the remarks to you in advance to check against delivery.
First on my list is Isabel Sacco from Spanish FA News Agency.
Yes, I would like to ask on if you can elaborate on the situation on this, on the spillover that you mentioned of the hostilities between Israel and Lebanon and Lebanon, how this is affecting the humanitarian situation in in Syria.
And secondly, also I would like to ask you on your comment on the depolitization of the humanitarian assistance and how do you see a change in this situation given the fact that the the same government that led the country to this situation is still our power.
So if you can just make a, a comment on this.
On the spillover of the Gaza crisis in Syria, there are many aspects to it.
One aspect is the fact that there have, there has been a significant increase in the air attacks by the IDF targeting various elements that are here in the Syrian territory.
And 2nd and and that has led to displacement of populations in the targeted areas.
Also the the targeting of the airports in Syria has Hanford our ability to operate humanitarian air services through UNHAS.
This past year we had to cancel 49 humanitarian flights.
Additionally, because of the Gaza crisis, the the prices of commodities have significantly increased, increased due to the rerouting of the ships and and this has affected Syria significantly because of the fragility of its economy, which is unable to cope with that sharp increase in the prices.
And also the, the situation in, in, in Syria has created an environment where we saw the world's attention focusing on Gaza and that provided some kind of diversion of attention that allowed the, the significant escalation of hostilities in the northeast without much attention being paid to that situation by, by the international community.
And the risk goes on and on.
And I, I think you get the idea with regard to the, the fact that the, the, of the depoliticisation as humanitarian coordinator, I think our focus should be on the people.
There is a political track, there is someone assigned by the secretary general to lead that track.
He is working with the different parties to forge a path to a negotiated solution to the political crisis.
Our role as humanitarians is to focus on the people underneath and, and, and that would require the deeper politicisation of the humanitarian, of the humanitarian work here in Syria, which should mean a strict adherence to the core humanitarian principles of independence, impartiality, humanity and Israelity by all sides and, and there is a deficit in that regard by all sides.
We'll go now to Mousasi from Almaydin TV and then after that to Christian from DPA.
Mercians, my question about the American and European sanctions imposed on Syria.
Can the sanctions be considered a part of the causes of the humanitarian crisis?
And a few days ago, the United States of America, France, Britain and Germany have issued a joint statement confirming that they will not lift sanctions on Syria and will also prevent reconstruction before a political solution.
That's mean when you when you talk about the depolitizing humanitarian aid, that's you consider that like politicizations.
What there is an impact on the humanitarian work due to the sanctions.
Let me hasten to say that these are unilateral sanctions, not UN sanctions.
These are not sanctions imposed through the Security Council, for instance, and they have a significant impact on our humanitarian work and our operations in Syria due to their significant impact on humanitarian procurement and banking channels.
We have seen many of the vendors and the banks over comply with assumptions and that is a significant consideration for us here.
For many vendors and banks, it is not worth the risk of doing business with the humanitarian community in Syria as the the risks are are are very, very **** and also to comply strictly with the sanctions regime would require the investment of significant resources.
While any humanitarian exemptions are welcome, there are still gaps, including exposure to legal risks, long and cumbersome procurement processes and I I I already mentioned over compliance by suppliers and banks, the impact of donor receipts, counterterrorism laws and the funding practises and the red lines of some current humanitarian donors.
So the EM continues to work with the relevant stakeholders to ensure procedures are in place that allow humanitarian partners to operate without obstruction.
I give the floor now to Christian from the German DPA over to you.
I don't want to step on Christian's toes.
Lisa, please, please go ahead and we will come back to the PA.
I'd like to ask you, but I, I may have some of my information wrong.
But I think that some of the Arab states have resumed political recognising Bashar al-Assad, his regime and have resumed relationships with him.
Saudi Arabia, I believe is one that has done this.
But I, I do believe that this is happening and I'd like to get your opinion as to how you view this, whether this might not act as a hindrance to the ability to get a political solution to this crisis.
Because if he's being recognised as a legitimate leader of this country and he's, you know, OK again, then why bother doing anything in terms of somehow finding a, a mode of living with the people of his country?
It's already affected the constitutional committee meeting where Assad's negotiating group has said that it will not attend.
Well, thank you very much for that question.
But I would just say that it is best if it is directed to the special envoy who, who was here last week and he's the one who is handling the political file.
And whether or not the thought in relations between some Arab countries and the government of Syria is a positive or a negative thing could be debated.
And and it is outside the the scope of my assignment.
Thank you very much, very clear.
I just wanted to check if.
That doesn't seem to be the case.
Musa, do you have a final question, then please go ahead.
Next, see, 0.02% is considered nothing like aid.
Does this matter, have anything to do with the aid in other places such as Ukraine, Gaza, for example?
Must I, I, I already said that we are, I said that we are competing for for attention and resources.
And over the years, we have been consistently asking for 10% of the global investment in humanitarian assistance for Syria.
And this is simply has proven to be unsustainable.
This year we are asking for less than the 10% that we usually ask for, but it's still we are competing with so many crises.
If you look at the global picture, you have Gaza, you have Ukraine, you have Sudan, you have Afghanistan and Ethiopia.
And the risk goes on and on, which with each emerging crisis, the Syria one that is now over a decade old keeps being pushed to the back burner.
And we are struggling to keep it in the global attention and, and, and, and that is proving to be challenging every year.
And as I said, there are two opportunities coming up.
We have, we have the, the senior officials meeting in Brussels and, and also the 8th Brussels Conference on Syria.
I am planning to launch the humanitarian response plan for 2024 sometime in the coming weeks in Geneva.
And we will continue through multiple channels to amplify the, the, the, the need for the world to pay attention to the crisis in Syria because the price of inaction could be significant.
I can foresee at least 4 catastrophic things if we continue to ignore the situation in Syria.
And those would would definitely include the resurgence of terrorism, something that we have seen lately.
And second, the likelihood of further destabilising neighbouring countries such as Lebanon and Jordan by not creating conducive conditions for the retain of refugees and also enhancing the possibilities that additional flows of refugees could could, could take place.
And 3rd, there is some fear here that with the the economic decline and the inability of the government to meet all the demands for social services, this whole thing about drugs could could see an uptick.
And again, we we could see a situation where migration to to Europe will increase.
I hesitate to say that in 2023 we have seen 181,000 new applications for asylum in Europe and that represents 38% compared to 2022.
So, as I said, if it is, if increased resources are are not provided because the Syrian people need them and deserve them, then they should be provided out of sheer national self-interest for the donor countries.
So Christian, the last question will go to you.
Christian, I don't know if you have unmuted yourself because we can't hear your question.
I'll give you a second to do so.
Muting myself Hello, can you hear?
Mr Adel Mullah, you have always answered my questions before I could ask them.
But the last point you raised the migration to Europe, to recap, you say 2023, so, so 38% more asylum applications from Syrians in Europe.
And do do you have projections?
Do you, do you ask people, do you know what might or might not happen in 2024 on, on the migration question, what on, on migration in 2024?
My, my own sense is that it's going to increase significantly unless we are able to keep people within their national borders here.
That is going to increase very, very significantly.
And it is easy to forecast that we are still at the beginning of the first.
We are in the first quarter of of the year.
But with the level of funding that we have and and and and the vulnerability that we see around us, it is not hard to conclude that the migration will only increase.
And, and I raised the issue of national interest.
Just compare the numbers.
How how much do you spend European countries spend on refugees as compared to what it takes to keep them within their national borders?
The month speaks for itself.
It is less costly to provide for people to remain in their countries as opposed to providing for them when they reach the in any destination of refuge.
Thank you very much, Mr Abdul Mullah.
I'm afraid we will have to wrap it up here.
We have another press conference coming up.
And thank you and your team for being such strong advocates for the Syrian people, whom I'm sure we can all agree need some peace and they need some support.
Thank you very much for today to everyone joining.
Thank you for the opportunity.
