IDLIB / UN INTER-AGENCY MISSION

A one-day inter-agency UN mission was conducted today across the border from Turkey into northwest Syria, where the needs for humanitarian aid and protection are growing more desperate by the day. OCHA

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:04:04
• Production Date: 2 March 2020
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS - OCHA
• Subject Topical: CONFLICT SITUATION; HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
• Geographic Subject: SYRIA
• MAMS Id: 2537248
• Parent Id: 2537248
• Alternate Title: unifeed200302g

Description

STORY: IDLIB / UN INTER-AGENCY MISSION
TRT: 4 :04
SOURCE: OCHA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: NATS

DATELINE: 02 MARCH 2020, IDLIB PROVINCE, SYRIA

Shotlist

02 MARCH 2020, IDLIB PROVINCE, SYRIA

1. Various shots, United Nations delegation entering Bab al-Hawa border crossing from Turkey
2. Various shots, United Nations delegation arriving at Kfar Lucin camp
3. Various shots, Kennedy speaking to civilians
4. Various shots, UN delegation speaking to civilians and inspecting conditions
5. Med shot, children gathered around UN official
6. Wide shot, United Nations delegation leaving Kfar Lucin camp
7. Various shots, UN delegation arriving at Bab Al Hawa border hospital
8. Various shots, Kennedy inspecting conditions in hospital
9. Pan left, UN delegation leaving hospital

Storyline

A one-day inter-agency UN mission was conducted today across the border from Turkey into northwest Syria, where the needs for humanitarian aid and protection are growing more desperate by the day.

Following the mission, Kevin Kennedy, the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, said the mission was a successful step to better understand the humanitarian realities on the ground and to assess the feasibility of a sustained UN presence in Idlib.

He said the UN mission witnessed first-hand the dire humanitarian consequences of the ongoing violence in Idlib, and it saw that people were traumatized and frightened and urgently need better access to food, shelter, sanitation, basic health services and protection.

Kennedy said with nearly one million people displaced in Idlib and surrounding areas since 1 December, the vast majority of them women and children, it is imperative that the UN uses all modalities to reach people in need, whether from inside Syria or across borders.

The interagency mission included representatives from IOM, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, OCHA and WHO. The UN team visited the Kafr Lousin camp for internally displaced people where it met with community leaders, partner NGOs and displaced people, including women. The mission then visited Bab al-Hawa hospital where it met health workers and patients before returning to Turkey via the Bab al-Hawa border crossing.

The Regional Humanitarian Coordinator said local aid workers were doing a heroic job, but they were exhausted and were themselves being displaced and killed. He underscored that all parties to the conflict must adhere to their obligations to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Kennedy noted that the ongoing cross-border humanitarian operation was essential to meeting the requirements of Syrians who urgently need assistance. More than 2,150 trucks carrying aid crossed from Turkey into northwest Syria in January and February. This is more than double the number of trucks crossing during the same period in 2019.

Kennedy said people in northwest Syria first and foremost needed the violence to stop.