Critical funding shortage threatens humanitarian response for Syria – UN

July 17, 2012: The humanitarian response for Syria is facing a critical shortage of funds, a top United Nations relief official warned on Monday, calling on the donor community to scale up their contributions to enable aid agencies to help those affected by the escalating crisis.
“If we don’t get more money, people will die and there will be more humanitarian suffering. The needs will continue to grow as long as this conflict continues – that is a sad and tragic truth,” said John Ging, the Director of the Coordination and Response Division of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

To date, the $189 million appeal for assistance for the response inside Syria is 20 per cent funded, while the $193 million appeal for the response to assist refugees in Turkey, Lebanon Jordan and Iraq is also 20 per cent funded. “To enable humanitarian action in an incredibly difficult, dangerous environment, funding is now the number one priority in terms of unlocking a bigger humanitarian response. That’s both for inside Syria and also for the regional refugee response,” Mr. Ging told reporters in Geneva following the fourth meeting of the Syrian Humanitarian Forum.

The Forum brought together over 350 participants from Member States, regional organizations, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN humanitarian agencies to mobilize the necessary resources to provide assistance to the hundreds of thousands of people uprooted by the conflict, which began last year as an uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad.
“We came together today in the face of an escalating conflict, which is having the predictable devastating humanitarian and human impact,” said Mr. Ging, who added that insecurity remains a major obstacle to the full implementation of the humanitarian response plan. Mr. Ging appealed to the donor community to scale up their donations, stating that 20 per cent funding for both appeals is insufficient.