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GENEVA / SYRIA UPDATE
STORY: GENEVA / SYRIA UPDATE
TRT: 1:00
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 7 SEPTEMBER 2018 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, United Nations press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Herve Verhoosel, Senior Spokesperson, World Food Programme (WFP):
“WFP appeals to all parties to protect civilians, respect humanitarian principles and allow for the safe delivery of food to families in need, no matter where they are.”
4. Med shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“In Syria, let me remind you that one in three schools cannot be used because they are destroyed, damaged, sheltering displaced families or are being used for military purposes.”
6. Med shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Christophe Boulierac, spokesperson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
“While the percentage of out-of-school children in these neighbouring countries dropped from 41 per cent in 2016 to 35 (per cent) in 2017, there continue to be 700,000 children out of school in the neighbouring countries.”
8. Med shot, camera operators
9. Med shot, journalists, camera operators
Emergency food supplies for hundreds of thousands of people in Syria’s Idlib are ready for distribution in the event of mass displacement caused by a full-scale military offensive on the last opposition-held region, the World Food Programme (WFP) said today.
WFP’s Senior Spokesperson Herve Verhoosel told journalists in Geneva today (07 Sep) that the UN agency has enough ready-to-eat food for 850,000 people for one week, but the “single greatest priority” must be to end the conflict.
He said “WFP appeals to all parties to protect civilians, respect humanitarian principles and allow for the safe delivery of food to families in need, no matter where they are.”
This food aid is either already inside Syria or can be brought in to the war-torn country from neighbouring Turkey.
According to WFP, additional supplies for displaced families can also be diverted from WFP’s monthly deliveries to Idlib, Aleppo and Hama. Sufficient nutrition supplies are also in place for 180,000 children and women for up to three months, before adding that the more than seven-year war had left 6.5 million Syrians food insecure and another four million are at risk of becoming so - twice as many as last year.
Amid preparations for the potential mass displacement, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that the conflict has caused an education crisis affecting Syrian youngsters nationwide.
According to UNICEF, four million children throughout the country are set to go back to school this month, but two million cannot.
Christophe Boulierac, UNICEF’s spokesperson said “in Syria, let me remind you that one in three schools cannot be used because they are destroyed, damaged, sheltering displaced families or are being used for military purposes.”
He add that there have been 60 attacks on schools in Syria since the beginning of 2018.
Despite this destruction, Boulierac said that a big part of Syria’s education infrastructure is still intact and should be used to help all children. He noted that out-of-school children are at risk of being forced into early marriage or recruitment by military groups.
For UNICEF, education can help overcome trauma, foster reconciliation and repair a community’s social fabric. Despite these benefits, however, the task of getting children into school has been made harder owing to a shortfall of some 180,000 education workers nationwide.
In Idlib, where schools have been opening earlier than usual in an effort to provide more lesson time for some 400,000 children, schooling is often suspended because of insecurity, shelling and violence.
Outside Syria, education is also a major problem in refugee host countries, according to the UNICEF spokesperson.
He said “while the percentage of out-of-school children in these neighbouring countries dropped from 41 per cent in 2016 to 35 (per cent) in 2017, there continue to be 700,000 children out of school in the neighbouring countries.”
Faced with a severe funding shortfall amounting to $517 million, the UN agency fears that host governments in Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt could change policies that have kept schools open to refugees.
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