NGOs "forced to scale back" as Syria aid shrinks, UN Deputy Relief Chief warns at Security Council
UNOCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria by Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, on behalf of Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
New York, 17 June 2025
As delivered
Thank you, Madam President.
As Deputy Special Envoy, my colleague Najat Rochdi, has just set out, the people of Syria continue to navigate a dizzying mixture of challenges and opportunities, as they pursue a better future.
Today, I want to offer another reminder of what's at stake - and highlight four main points for this Council's attention.
First: We must keep a strong focus on the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Syria, which remains one of the largest in the world.
While the reduction in conflict and growing engagement with international partners are opening new prospects for investing in Syria's future - we must not forget that three quarters of the population still need humanitarian relief right now.
Security remains volatile in parts of the country - including the coast, the south and the north-east - where attacks continue to affect civilians and humanitarian operations.
Over 7 million people remain displaced, including many newly uprooted by recent violence.
Over 1.1 million internally displaced people, along with more than half a million refugees, have returned in the past six months. But many of them will still rely on humanitarian aid, including early recovery support, as they work to rebuild their lives.
Unexploded ordnance remains a deadly threat, killing at least 414 people and injuring close to 600 more since December. A third of these victims are children. This threat is also a key concern for displaced people who want to return to their homes.
Health systems remain overwhelmed, with fewer than 60 per cent of hospitals and less than half of primary healthcare centers fully functional.
As we enter the warmer months, the cholera outbreak risks getting worse, due to population movements, disruptions to water systems, and drought.
Syria - along with much of the region - is experiencing its worst dry spell in more than three decades. This will likely shrink agricultural output, with up to three quarters of its wheat crop - enough to feed 16 million people for a year - at risk of failure, at a time when more than half the population already faces food insecurity.
Madam President,
My second point: The UN and its partners continue to do what we can to provide critical assistance and make the most efficient use of the limited resources we have.
We are now in the last stages of transitioning to a more efficient and unified humanitarian coordination model, one that harnesses the efforts of organizations working across the country under the leadership of the Humanitarian Coordinator in Damascus.
These efforts were also supported through a joint mission between OCHA's Director of Operations and Advocacy, and the World Health Organization's Director of Health Emergency Interventions, in late May.
This revised structure is now largely in place. The coordination mechanisms in Gaziantep and Amman - which have been so critical to our ability to provide assistance throughout Syria over the years - will be phased out by the end of the month.
Through this transition, we have reached close to 2.5 million people with critical assistance each month, including food, water and health, despite shrinking funding.
This includes, for example, close to 2 million people reached each month with health interventions.
This year, the World Health Organization has supported over 2.7 million courses of treatment and more than 430,000 medical procedures.
The Syria Humanitarian Fund is supporting health, water and sanitation services for 850,000 people at risk of cholera in Aleppo, Damascus, Al-Hasakeh and Lattakia.
The Fund has also launched a $60 million joint allocation with the Syria Cross-Border Humanitarian Fund to assist displaced populations, host communities and returnees.
UNICEF, WHO and other partners are providing mobile health and nutrition services in underserved areas. In May, over 170,000 young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women were screened for malnutrition, with a particular focus on the coastal areas.
Thousands of explosive items have been discarded in clearance operations, improving people's safety as well as access for humanitarian actors.
We continue to make use of the most cost-efficient routes available. This includes the route from Türkiye, through which the UN has transported over 1,200 trucks of aid this year - more than six times as many as the same period last year. In May, assistance transported along this route benefited over 1.2 million people across much of Syria.
The World Food Programme is sourcing more supplies locally, driven by changes in the exchange rate.
Meanwhile, our teams are exploring how the recent announcements by the US, UK, EU and others to ease sanctions can help us further streamline transactions and procurement, and expand access to items like advanced medical equipment.
However - and this is my third point - we need more funding to keep this work going, if not to expand it.
Nearly halfway through the year, our humanitarian appeal has received only $260 million - just 13 per cent of the requirements for this period.
At a time when NGOs have new opportunities to expand their activities across Syria, many are instead forced to scale back.
This continues to translate into reductions in critical activities.
Across Syria, 280 health facilities - 16 per cent of the total - have suspended or reduced capacity due to funding cuts, affecting all 14 governorates.
In northern Syria, 240 health facilities risk closing due to funding cuts, potentially affecting more than 4.2 million people.
Some 24 safe spaces for women and girls have been shuttered, and an estimated 265,000 people will lose access to life-saving reproductive health services.
Other sectors face equally stark challenges.
This year, we have already narrowed our focus to target 8 million of the most vulnerable people in Syria, less than half of the total number in need.
In light of the global funding context, we will continue to adjust our operations in line with the Humanitarian Reset, laid out by the Emergency Relief Coordinator in March. But this will ultimately mean doing less with less.
My final point, Madam President, is that we must translate this moment into concrete support for Syria's reconstruction and development.
For our part, as humanitarians, we will continue to see through the shift to more efficient ways of working with simplified structures, growing partnerships with local actors, and a sharpened focus on the most critical life-saving needs, to help ensure the most vulnerable are not passed by.
But the people of Syria want to move beyond dependence on aid, and to rebuild their own livelihoods.
As more families return home, demand for healthcare, education, water and electricity will only grow.
As Deputy Special Envoy Rochdi has stated, recent moves to ease sanctions open new opportunities for investment in restoring critical services. Recent announcements of planned investments, and the growing engagement by international financial institutions, are encouraging.
The UN has also proposed areas for possible development activities in support of the transition.
But these opportunities need to be matched with concrete initiatives to rebuild Syria and restore basic services. We cannot assume that adequate funding will just resume.
With diplomatic and economic ties being reestablished; international partners re-evaluating their footprints and postures in Syria; political processes coming into focus; and a continued reduction in conflict - we have a window of opportunity right now that may not last. We need to act decisively to help this transition deliver the better future the people of Syria desperately want.
Thank you.
Posted on 17 June 2025
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