LEBANON/ AMOS

United Nations Humanitarian Chief Valerie Amos today visited settlements in Lebanonhosting families who had fled the conflict in Syria. Lebanonhosts more than half a million refugees from Syria. OCHA

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:09
• Production Date: 2 July 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS - OCHA
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: LEBANON
• MAMS Id: U130702f

Description

STORY: LEBANON/ AMOS
TRT: 2:09
SOURCE: OCHA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC/ NATS

DATELINE: 2 JULY 2013, BEKAA, LEBANON

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, El Faaor informal settlement
2. Wide shot, UN Humanitarian Chief Valerie Amos works with UNHCR and NGO partners at El Faaor informal settlement
3. Med shot, children at El Faaor informal settlement
4. Various shot, Valerie Amos with refugee family at Saadnayel formal settlement
5. Med shot, children at Saadnayel formal settlement
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“The situation in Syria is clearly getting much worse. I met some people today who came from Qusayr and they have only been here for 4-5 weeks. The talk about the intensity of the fighting, having to leave because of the impact it is having on children and, of course 70 per cent of those who are crossing the border are women and children. The situation for them is absolutely terrible. It is Syria’s future that is being blighted here.”
7. Wide shot, Valerie Amos with UNHCR and NGO colleagues
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“We keep saying that we need peace and stability in Syria but countries that have influence on the parties on the ground, on the Government, on the different groups that are fighting need to do all they can to bring them to the table, to talk transition and to talk peace. We need to support the Lebanese Government here in Lebanon. They need help with their education sector, their health sector. If you have thousands of refugees crossing the border every day, it’s a huge burden, not just on the country but also on the people who are hosting those communities.”
9. Wide shot, exterior UNHCR Bekaa registration centre
10. Various shots, refugees at UNHCR registration centre
11. Various shots, Valerie Amos with family from Homs

Storyline

United Nations Humanitarian Chief Valerie Amos today visited settlements in Lebanon hosting families who had fled the conflict in Syria. Lebanon hosts more than half a million refugees from Syria. The UN Refugee Agency says the number could reach 1 million by the end of the year if the situation does not improve.

Lebanon has received the largest number of refugees in the region. More than 30 per cent of them are in Lebanon’s Bekaa region. Ms. Amos visited two refugee settlements and a UNHCR registration centre in the region.

At the El Faaor informal settlement, she saw for herself the conditions in which many refugees live. Some 420 people live here in 61 tents and many who have arrived recently are from Aleppo where the fighting has intensified again in recent weeks.

UN agencies such as UNHCR and other humanitarian partners are providing aid including access to mobile health clinics and food assistance, but more support is needed to help the increasing number of refugees arriving from Syria.

“The situation in Syria is clearly getting much worse. I met some people today who came from Qusayr and they have only been here for 4-5 weeks. The talk about the intensity of the fighting, having to leave because of the impact it is having on children and, of course 70 per cent of those who are crossing the border are women and children. The situation for them is absolutely terrible. It is Syria’s future that is being blighted here,” said Ms. Amos.

She also visited Saadnayel formal settlement where over 200 people live in tents. Many of them have recently arrived from Al Qusayr. A mother she met in the camp, who had arrived recently with her husband and five children, said they had lost everything.

“We keep saying that we need peace and stability in Syria but countries that have influence on the parties on the ground, on the Government, on the different groups that are fighting need to do all they can to bring them to the table, to talk transition and to talk peace,” said Ms. Amos.

“We need to support the Lebanese Government here in Lebanon. They need help with their education sector, their health sector. If you have thousands of refugees crossing the border every day, it’s a huge burden, not just on the country but also on the people who are hosting those communities.”

The UNHCR registration centre in Bekaa registers an average of 900 refugees daily. The centre also provided vaccination services for children. Over 50 per cent of the Syrian refugees in Bekaa are children. Ms. Amos spoke to a family who had arrived from Homs. One of the sons had suffered a bullet wound to his shoulder when he was out buying some bread for the family.

Since the start of the conflict in 2011, over 1.7 million people have fled Syria to neighbouring countries. The revised Syria Refugee Response Plan for Lebanon needs $1.7 billion to help refugees as well as the local communities hosting them, however, humanitarian organizations and the Government have only received 15 per cent of the funding so far.