GENEVA / BRIEFING

The World Food Programme (WFP) expresses it’s concern over the growing cycle of violence in Syria which is preventing food items from reaching millions of vulnerable Syrians in need. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) tells the briefing of pressures to accommodate the growing number of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries; and WHO reports on the H1N1 situation in China. CH UNTV

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:20
• Production Date: 2 April 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR; WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION - WHO; WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME - WFP
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• MAMS Id: U130402a

Description

STORY: GENEVA / BRIEFING
TRT: 2.20
SOURCE:CH UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: FRENCH / ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 02 APRIL 2013, PALAIS DES NATIONS, GENEVA

SHOTLINE:

FILE – RECENT, UNITED NATIONS GENEVA HEADQUARTERS

1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations, Geneva

02 APRIL 2013, PALAIS DES NATIONS, GENEVA

2. Wide shot, journalists in conference room
3. SOUNDBITE (French), Elisabeth Byrs, Spokesperson for WFP:
“The WFP has suffered from over 20 attacks since December 2011, targeting the trucks used for transporting food to affected areas, as well as its warehouses and vehicles.”
4. Cutaway, close up of journalist
5. SOUNDBITE(French), Elisabeth Byrs, Spokesperson for WFP:
“We are therefore particularly concerned by this situation, as WFP needs USD $19 million every week to support its Syria response, which is aiming to feed 2.5 million people inside Syria and in neighbouring countries.”
6. Cutaway, close up of journalist
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson for the High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“As of the 28 of March, we had a 121,320 Syrian refugees registered in Iraq. More than 90 per cent in the Kurdistan Region.”
8. Cutaway, med shot of journalists.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson for the High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“The situation is now acute in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where refugees have been arriving at the rate of 800-900 people per day- double the rate of just three months ago. The need for space for new camps, and to decongest existing camps is now of paramount importance.”
10. Cutaway, close up of journalist
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson for the High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“The number of children below 5 suffering from diarrhoea in the camp has doubled in recent weeks: Since February, on average nine children out of every hundred suffer from diarrhoea per week. Additionally, there have been 62 cases of Hepatitis A since the start of the year.”
12. Cutaway, laptop
13. Fadela Chaib, Spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO):
“It’s the first time that H7N9 was found in humans, it is the first time. So it’s of concern to WHO. We will be following with the health authorities in China to know more but for the time being it’s only three cases and it has shown, for the time being, no human-to-human transmission.”
14. Wide shot, journalists in conference room

Storyline

The World Food Programme said today (2 APRIL) that the growing cycle of violence is preventing life-saving food from reaching millions of vulnerable Syrians in need, and called on all parties to allow humanitarian aid to pass safely into conflict zones.

WFP spokeswoman, Elizabeth Byrs, told journalists in Geneva that 20 trucks, and warehouses, had been attacked since the beginning of its operation in December 2011.

The UN food organization is appealing for continuing access to the two and a half million people in need of food inside Syria, and close to a million refugees in neighbouring countries.

The organization needs 19 million dollars every week to fund the operation.

At the same news briefing, UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards spoke of the pressure to accommodate the growing number of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries,

He said the situation was particularly “acute in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where refugees have been arriving at the rate of 800-900 people per day – double the rate of just three months ago.”

It was vitally important to find space for new camps and decongest existing ones.

Out of the more than 121,000 refugees registered in Iraq at the end of March, more than 90% were in the Kurdistan area.

Crowding and warmer temperatures were also leading to outbreaks of disease.

Edwards said that since February an “average of nine children out of every hundred” were suffering from diarrhoea every week.

62 cases of hepatitis A had been reported as well since the beginning of the year.

Also at the briefing, the World Health Organization said that it was monitoring cases of the H7N9 bird flu strain with the Chinese authorities.

Two men had died from the disease and a third victim, a woman, was in critical condition.

WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said that there was no evidence of a link between the three patients and no evidence of “human to human transmission.”

Chaib said that these are the first cases of this strain of bird flu in humans.