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IDLIB / FORE DISPLACEMENT
STORY: IDLIB / FORE DISPLACEMENT
TRT: 02:29
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNICEF ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: NATS
DATELINE: 3 MARCH 2020, IDLIB, SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC
1. Various shots, WFP convoy travel southern rural Idlib
2. Pan right, exterior of the UNICEF -WFP supported Tal-Amara school, southern rural Idlib
3. Med shot, UNICEF and WFP delegation arrives at Tal-Amara school
4. Various shots, children in classroom
5. Various shots, Fore and WFP Executive director David Beasley interact with children in a 3rd grade classroom
6. Various shots, Fore interacts with children
7. Various shot, children playing in the school yard
8. Wide shot, Fore walks in school yard
9. Wide shot, UNICEF delegation arrives at WFP food assistance distribution centre in Sinjar village
10. Various shots, families receive food assistance package at WFP food assistance distribution center
11. Various shots, Fore and Beasley being briefed on activities at the WFP food distribution centre
12. Various shots, family takes home food rations
13. Various shots, UNICEF and WFP delegation walk down street in Sinjar village
14. Various shots, Fore enters primary health and nutrition centre in Al-Juhman village and interacts with women and children
15. Various shots, Fore interacts with child during nutrition screening
16. Various shots, Fore interacts with local NGO health workers at UNICEF supported health and nutrition centre
17. Med shot, UNICEF MENA Regional Dir and Fore interact with local NGO health workers
18. Various shots, a local health worker interacts with mothers at UNICEF supported health and nutrition centre
19. Close up, mother with child at UNICEF supported health and nutrition centre
20. Wide shot, health worker weighs children as part of the nutrition screening
21. Various shots, children and mothers at UNICEF supported health and nutrition centre
It is now more urgent than ever to end the violence in Syria and to improve access across the country, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore and World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley said today (5 Mar). Wrapping up a two-day visit to the country, the two agency chiefs also stressed the need to provide families with basic services and to improve their economic conditions.
Their trip comes amid a dangerous escalation in northwest Syria and as the conflict is about to enter its 10th year, leaving one-third of the Syrian people food insecure, 1 in 3 children out of school, and over half of all health facilities non-functional.
Nine years of war have left Syria’s economy in near collapse, pushing millions of people into hunger and food insecurity. Between 2018 and 2019, the number of food-insecure people increased from 6.5 million to 7.9 million, and food prices spiked by 60 per cent.
During their trip, Fore and Beasley visited a school, a food distribution centre and a health clinic in Sinjar, southern Idlib, 30 kilometres away from the frontline. They met nine-year-old schoolchildren who were born the year the war started and are catching up on their learning after years of missing out. They also visited a woman who lost her small business when the war forced her to leave her home and is now dependent on WFP assistance to feed her three young siblings who live with disabilities.
Further up north in Idlib, the situation of children and families has become even more critical: More than half a million children have been displaced in the past three months, an average of 6,000 a day. Some 180 schools are out of operation because they were either destroyed, damaged or used as shelter for displaced families. Food prices have increased by 120 per cent since last year.
Meanwhile, in the northeast, tens of thousands of children continue to languish in displacement camps, deprived of the most basic services, despite the significant efforts of humanitarian partners. Some 28,000 children from more than 60 countries, including 20,000 from Iraq, remain stranded in Al Hol camp, rejected by their governments and shunned by their communities.
In their meetings with government officials, Fore and Beasley renewed their agencies’ commitment to helping Syria’s most vulnerable children and families and providing them with education, nutrition, health, protection services and food.
They stressed that being able to move staff and supplies across conflict lines and across borders is critical for reaching the populations most in need, particularly as 11 million people in the country – 5 million of them children – require humanitarian assistance.
The two officials also called for the protection of children, civilian infrastructure, and for a cessation of hostilities in the northwest.
Fore further spoke of the need to address the plight of foreign children in the northeast, in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and children’s best interests.
UNICEF and WFP are working jointly in Syria to help prevent and treat malnutrition, strengthen data collection, and provide school feeding to keep children in school.
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