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STORY: GENEVA / RAQQA
TRT: 02:12
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 13 JUNE 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
RECENT - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
13 JUNE 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrej Mahecic, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“Over 430,000 people are estimated to be in need across Ar-Raqqa governorate. In May alone, over 100,000 people have been displaced. UNHCR’s response on the ground is being closely coordinated with sister UN agencies and other humanitarian partners”.
4. Med shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrej Mahecic, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“Those fleeing the fighting are taking shelter in numerous locations. Many have been displaced more than once and for a longer period of time. Tens of thousands are passing through camps or transit sites and quickly moving on to other areas or returning to their places of origin. Levels of humanitarian access vary for security or logistical reasons”.
6. Close up, journalist
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrej Mahecic, Spokesperson, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“In Ein Issa camp, located to the north of Raqqa city and housing approximately 9,000 people in or around the immediate vicinity of the site, conditions are more difficult. Turnover is high. Approximately 1,000 people arrive and leave the camp every day. Nearly 20,000 people arrived at the camp in one week alone in late May, the majority quickly moving on”.
8. Med shot, journalists
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Bettina Lüscher, Spokesperson, World Food Program (WFP):
“Since March, the World Food programme has provided emergency food assistance to more than 170,000 displaced people in Raqqa as well as for people who fled Raqqa and are displaced in the Deir-ez-Zor governorate and in Al-Hasakah governorate. In June, we have delivered monthly food rations, enough to feed nearly 55,000 people in those areas. Those deliveries are not emergency food assistance, but they are part of our regular deliveries to reach a total of 185,500 people who have now settled in those areas.”
10. Wide shot, journalists
11. Close up, journalist
12. Med shot, journalists
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) called for better access in order to reach tens of thousands of civilians who are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance across the Raqqa governorate situated in the north of Syria.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva today (13 Jun), UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic said over 430,000 people were estimated to be in need across the governorate with over 100,000 people displaced “in May alone.” He said UNHCR’s response on the ground was being closely coordinated with sister UN agencies and other humanitarian partners.
But with growing needs and displacement rising, access on the ground is challenging and relief items are being airlifted from Damascus to Qamishli, a costly and complex undertaking. According to Bettina Lüscher, spokesperson for World Food Program (WFP), the UN agency has done so far more than 500 airlift operations to Qamishli which she said was the only way to reach these areas.
Lüscher said since March, WFP provided emergency food assistance “to more than 170,000 displaced people in Raqqa as well as for people who fled Raqqa and are displaced in the Deir-ez-Zor governorate and in Al-Hasakah governorate.” She said the Programme delivered food rations for 55,000 people in those areas in June as part of its regular deliveries to reach a total of 185,500 people have now settled in these areas.
UNHCR’s Mahecic said those fleeing the fighting are taking shelter in numerous locations with “tens of thousands are passing through camps or transit sites and quickly moving on to other areas or returning to their places of origin.” He said levels of humanitarian access vary “for security or logistical reasons.” Mahecic reported that difficult conditions in the Ein Issa camp north of Raqqa city. He said turnover in the camp was high as “approximately 1,000 people arrive and leave the camp every day.”
UNHCR said funding is badly-needed. The inter-agency Raqqa response plan, which includes UNHCR and other UN agencies, has received just USD 29 million of the USD 153 million needed.
