TURKEY / LOWCOCK CRAFT HUMANITARIAN

During his visit to the Bab al-Hawa Crossing at the Turkish-Syrian border, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock expressed his concern for the grave humanitarian crisis facing civilians in northwest Syria. OCHA

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:15
• Production Date: 3 March 2020
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS - OCHA
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE; HUMANITARIAN EMERGENCIES
• Geographic Subject: SYRIA; TURKEY
• MAMS Id: 2537731
• Parent Id: 2537731
• Alternate Title: unifeed200303h

Description

STORY: TURKEY / LOWCOCK CRAFT HUMANITARIAN
TRT: 3:15
SOURCE: OCHA
RESTICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 03 MARCH 2020, HATAY, TURKEY

Shotlist

1.Various shots, Lowcock looking at aid supplies
2.Various shots, aid supplies
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“So this is Bab al-Hawa, the Crossing that the United Nations uses to bring emergency assistance into northwestern Syria here on the Turkish border. Every day at the moment, we are bringing in something like 50 trucks of assistance, food, health supplies, warm clothes, tents and so on to meet the needs of millions of people in northwestern Syria, but especially the 900,000 people who have been forced to flee the fighting over the last several weeks.”
4.Various shots, Lowcock meeting US Ambassador Kelly Craft
5.Various shots, Lowcock and Craft talking to UN agency staff
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“I have been appealing to 500 million dollars from generous countries to enable us to scale up. At the moment the relief operation can’t keep pace with the terrible suffering of the people on the ground. And we need to increase the size of it. And so far, against the 500 million we’ve been asking for, we have promises or received money of about 300 million dollars, and that means we will be able to double the number of trucks going across the border with this life-saving aid, from about 50 trucks a day to 100 trucks a day. Let’s remember, the people we are trying to reach are civilians, they are mostly children, and they are mostly very young children, babies, little boys and girls, toddlers.”
7. Various shots, Craft visiting aid facilities with Lowcock
8.Wide shot, Craft talking to reporters
9.Various shots, Craft leaving

Storyline

During his visit to the Bab al-Hawa crossing at the Turkish-Syrian border, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock expressed his concern for the grave humanitarian crisis facing civilians in northwest Syria.

The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator today (3 Mar) visited a transshipment centre in Hatay, Turkey.

He said, “so this is Bab al-Hawa, the Crossing that the United Nations uses to bring emergency assistance into northwestern Syria here on the Turkish border. Every day at the moment, we are bringing in something like 50 trucks of assistance, food, health supplies, warm clothes, tents and so on to meet the needs of millions of people in northwestern Syria, but especially the 900,000 people who have been forced to flee the fighting over the last several weeks.”

Lowcock continued, “I have been appealing to 500 million dollars from generous countries to enable us to scale up, at the moment the relief operation can’t keep pace with the terrible suffering of the people on the ground. And we need to increase the size of it. And so far, against the 500 million we’ve been asking for, we have promises or received money for 300 million dollars and that means we will be able to double the number of trucks going across the border with life-saving aid. We are from about 50 trucks a day to 100 trucks a day.”

The humanitarian chief reiterated, “let’s remember, the people we are trying to reach are civilians, they are mostly children and they are mostly very young children, babies, little boys and girls, toddlers.”

Today, Lowcock also met the visiting US Ambassador Kelly Craft.

In a statement issued today, he noted that with USD 500 million of funding, OCHA will be able to reach 1.1 million of the most vulnerable. He thanked today’s generous contribution of USD 108 million from the United States.

In his statement, Lowcock also stated that civilians across northwest Syria are experiencing a grave humanitarian crisis. People are struggling to survive in horrific conditions. They are traumatized, cold and many have no choice but to sleep in the open. Despite extraordinary efforts by humanitarian organizations, aid is not reaching everyone who needs it.

Lowcock said that what civilians need is a ceasefire and for international humanitarian law to be respected.

He said the UN was pursuing every option to assist everyone in need in northwest Syria. An estimated 2.8 million people in the northwest need humanitarian assistance.