At Security Council, UN Relief Chief warns funding gaps threaten lifesaving aid in Syria
UNOCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
New York, 21 August 2025
As delivered
Thank you, Mr. President.
Special Envoy Pedersen has conveyed the precarity of the moment. I want to reinforce that message, and add four points:
First, as the situation in As-Sweida reminds us, the humanitarian crisis is not over.
Across Syria, 16 million Syrians still need humanitarian support.
While, as you heard, the ceasefire in As-Sweida has largely held, sporadic clashes continue. Alarming reports of abuses during the earlier fighting continue to emerge.
More than 185,000 people have been displaced across As-Sweida, Dar'a, Rural Damascus and beyond.
This week, our teams have visited As-Sweida city, Salkhad towns, and the western countryside of the governorate. They delivered aid and assessed needs.
The overall situation is dire, I'm afraid. We need to sustain urgent delivery of food, health, shelter, clean water, fuel, restoration of water and electricity infrastructure, education. In some areas, those arriving now outnumber the existing population. Services are overwhelmed.
We are in close contact with the Syrian authorities, and coordinating with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, who have delivered 12 convoys of essential aid, and NGO partners.
We have provided emergency food packages, flour, and essential household items to tens of thousands of people, including displaced families.
Medical kits are reaching key hospitals in As-Sweida and Dar'a, while medical teams are providing health and nutrition services, and UNICEF is working with partners to provide bottled water, water trucking, and fuel for water pumping.
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent has also facilitated a commercial convoy with key supplies, and worked with the Syrian Civil Defence to transport vulnerable people, including those who wish to return to As-Sweida. But insecurity and road closures have disrupted commercial supply.
Road access is still limited to two routes, through Busra es-Sham and Busra el-Harir in Dar'a. Other routes - including the main highway from Damascus - remain closed.
So we need better humanitarian and commercial access. And most of all, we need safety. Aid convoys have come under fire this month.
There have been attacks on health facilities, medics, ambulances. We continue working closely with the Syrian authorities and partners to strengthen channels for help. I insist again, as I know that you will, on the protection and freedom of movement of civilians, humanitarian workers and medical missions.
Mr. President,
My second point: Despite funding and security challenges, the UN and partners are delivering as much life-saving support as we can with the resources we have.
In Syria as elsewhere, as we implement the Humanitarian Reset, we are now implementing a hyper-prioritized plan, and we have restructured and streamlined our humanitarian coordination effort in country, including reducing senior roles.
We are reaching almost three and a half million people on average every month across Syria, from Lattakia to Aleppo to Hassakeh. That is a noticeable increase from last year, despite less funding.
Since December last year, we have scaled up across the humanitarian response, including nutrition for children under 5 who are stunted; and subsidized bread to 2 million people each day.
We are working with the authorities to rebuild critical services. The Ministry of Health, with WHO and UNICEF, are delivering a new national immunization strategy, and rehabilitating hospitals and health facilities.
Partners are rehabilitating water stations, wells, laboratories and sewer networks. They also continue to provide essential services in Al Hol camp and to support families leaving the camp, and UNHCR has been in discussions on assuming camp management activities.
OCHA's country-based pooled funds are now providing $75 million to support vulnerable people across the country. We have made some progress on NGO registration and visas for aid workers, but more is needed.
I have agreed with the interim authorities the extension of cross-border operations from Türkiye, as we move towards importing more humanitarian supplies commercially.
The Lebanese and Jordanian crossings are open, and functioning well, with work towards 24-hour access.
But - and this is my third point - without more funding we won't be able to sustain these vital efforts, let alone expand them to more people who need them.
Our humanitarian appeal for 2025 is only 14 per cent funded. Aid cuts are projected to lead to staffing cuts of at least 40 per cent across the humanitarian community in Syria, with NGOs hit hardest. Sixteen per cent of health facilities have suspended or reduced capacity due to cuts.
So I want to thank all donors who have generously supported the humanitarian response, led at the moment by the EU, Germany and Canada. And I want to call on all donors to keep supporting Syria and to disburse the generous pledges made at the Brussels Conference back in March.
Funding cuts are affecting our operations everywhere, of course. But among our 10 largest country appeals, it is the Syria appeal that is the lowest figure. And this is despite our hyper-prioritized plans having reduced the overall ask by nearly $1 billion compared to last year.
With more resources - or even the funding that has been repeatedly promised - we can get critical medicine to a million more people each month; we can restore water services for an additional 5 million people; and we can expand services for people returning to their home areas.
We have also worked with our partners, and in consultation with the interim Government, to develop a plan to respond to the severe drought-like conditions Syria is facing - as part of our broader appeal - for critical support for food and agriculture, clean water, and health services to 4.3 million people who are most affected.
This is, I'm afraid, the worst drought in over three decades, and an ominous indicator of future needs.
Alongside funding, we also welcome the easing of sanctions by the US, EU and UK, which opens up potential for vital investment and could reduce humanitarian needs. But the impact of that will take time.
The complex legal environment that still continues for humanitarians continues to impede our work: Humanitarian carveouts help, so I hope we can extend exemptions.
Finally, Mr. President, while we surge humanitarian support, we need investment in longer-term support for development and reconstruction that will allow the people of Syria to reduce and ultimately end reliance on humanitarian aid.
I also strongly welcome diplomatic progress made by Jordan, Türkiye, the US, France, countries from the region, and the Syrian authorities.
This is a firm foundation for a much-needed shift from a humanitarian-led approach to a stronger development trajectory.
The Syrian people do not want to depend on humanitarian help. Announcements of new investments in infrastructure and energy supply are encouraging - not just in their own right, but also as a signal of confidence, from the region and beyond.
The international community must help translate this momentum into tangible improvements in people's lives, by delivering on those planned projects, by taking additional concrete steps on sanction relief, and investing in infrastructure.
Such initiatives and investments are essential as more than 2 million Syrian refugees and internally displaced people have returned home since December last year.
Let me amplify again the call from my colleague Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, following his mission to Syria two months ago, where he asked for more support for those coming back. As he said, returns will prove short-lived without increased international support.
Mr. President, the international community - and this Council - has been clear that we must shift the momentum away from the years of hardship and destruction towards recovery, and hope.
That means sustained commitment, patient diplomacy, and a relentless focus on delivery and implementation. The people of Syria do not need us to be commentators and problem observers. They need us to move with genuine urgency, generosity and purpose.
The humanitarian community has shown that we can deliver. With funding and access, we aim to no longer be needed. Please back us.
So, my asks - political action to hold the peace in As-Sweida, and prevent future escalations of this kind. Support for our funding and access requests. And to help us create the conditions, including through investment and sanctions lift, where the humanitarian mission can transition to genuine, and Syrian-led, recovery and rebuilding.
We need to do that for the Syrian people, but not just for Syria. This is a chance to demonstrate that international solidarity still matters, and that coordinated international action still works.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Posted on 21 August 2025
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