Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUnifeed
GENEVA / SYRIA UPDATE
STORY: GENEVA / SYRIA UPDATE
TRT: 2:32
SOURCE: CH UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 9 APRIL 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE – RECENT – PALAIS DES NATIONS, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior Palais des nations
9 APRIL 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, journalists at the Salle III
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Panos Moumtzis, Syria Regional Refugee Coordinator, UNHCR:
“As of today, we have reached the 1,300,000 Syrian refugees registered, all with appointments, in the neighbouring countries. This is a significant increase, if you think that today, one year ago- twelve months ago, the actual figure was 30,000. So in 12 months, we have gone from 30,000 Syrian refugees to 1,300,000. We fear that if the current level of security.”
4. Cutaway, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Panos Moumtzis, Syria Regional Refugee Coordinator, UNHCR:
“We fear, I do not have an exact figure to give you, but we fear that if the current level of insecurity; if the current level of political insecurity continues, we may see a doubling or tripling of refugees that we have today in the region.”
6. Cutaway, journalist
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Panos Moumtzis, Syria Regional Refugee Coordinator, UNHCR:
“The funding remains at a level of 31%. As you know, in December we reached an appeal asking for over 1 billion dollars, to help 1million one hundred thousand refugees, and out of this one billion dollars, we have received roughly about 300 million. There is an acute shortfall of 700million dollars while we have reached the planning figure. We have reached a point where we feel we are at a breaking point.”
8. Cutaway, journalists
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Panos Moumtzis, Syria Regional Refugee Coordinator, UNHCR:
“We are afraid if no more money, if no more funds are made available urgently- and this is where we are at a breaking point- we will come to a point where we will have to start reducing aid, prioritizing aid, and this is where we get to this horrible meetings- one of the most difficult tasks we have to do where we look in a very cold blinded way into the operations, and where we have to decide is primary health is more important than secondary; is education, is shelter, are camps, how about people who are in urban settings, and some prioritization then starts taking place.”
10. Cutaway, journalists
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Panos Moumtzis, Syria Regional Refugee Coordinator, UNHCR:
“For the moment, we are particularly waiting for confirmation or materialization of the pledges made by the Gulf States in particular. Most of the Western states that pledged during the conference, their pledges have materialized.”
12. Cutaway, journalists
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Panos Moumtzis, Syria Regional Refugee Coordinator, UNHCR:
“We fear that we may not be able to continue the operations unless funding comes urgently. We are at a breaking point.”
14.Wide shot, journalists
A senior official from the United Nation’s refugee agency (UNHCR) today (9 April) warned that a breaking point had been reached in the face of a massive funding shortfall, amid fears that the number of Syrian people fleeing the war-torn nation could triple.
Briefing journalists at the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, Panos Moumtzis, the regional refugee coordinator for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said that “we are afraid if no more money, if no more funds are made available urgently - and this is where we are at a breaking point - we will come to a point where we will have to start reducing aid.”
Moumtzis underlined that just US$ 300 million had been provided from the one billion US dollars pledged for Syria-related aid operations at an international conference held in Kuwait in January.
He said the funding remained at a level of 31 percent, adding that “in December we reached an appeal asking for over 1 billion dollars, to help 1 million one hundred thousand refugees, and out of this one billion dollars, we have received roughly about 300 million. There is an acute shortfall of 700 million dollars while we have reached the planning figure. We have reached a point where we feel we are at a breaking point."
Almost all of the US$1 billion was pledged by Gulf nations, including $300 million each from Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Panos said that “for the moment, we are particularly waiting for confirmation or materialization of the pledges made by the Gulf States in particular. Most of the Western states that pledged during the conference, their pledges have materialized.”
In all, some 1.3 million people have now fled Syria and some 200,000 more are crossing into neighbouring countries each month since protests started in March 2011 against the regime of Bashar Assad, which has spiraled into a sectarian civil war.
Moumtzis noted that just 12 months ago, the number of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries was only 30,000.
Download
There is no media available to download.
