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STORY: GENEVA / SYRIA UPDATE
TRT: 03:31
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 20 MARCH 2018 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior, Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“UN staff, as we have heard, have seen people coming out of Eastern Ghouta, they have seen them coming out of Afrin, and they have seen the state that they are in, and frankly they are shocked. They are talking about those coming out of Eastern Ghouta. Most people that they interviewed had some sort of health condition, be intestinal infections, hepatitis, skin disease, trauma which are likely due to the lack of medicines and medical care for years.”
4. Med shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“In Afrin, people were scared and in deep distress. The call that the humanitarian coordinator comes out with is, as we have heard, for all the parties to the conflict to ensure that humanitarians have access to those in need, everybody in need, it is a call to protect the civilians, it is a call to protect medical workers, to protect service providers and protect humanitarian workers as well.”
6. Med shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Marixie Mercado, Spokesperson for UNICEF:
“Since March 6, people in Afrin city have suffered from severe water shortages as the source of water to Afrin city was reportedly damaged by fighting. UNICEF supported water trucks have also stopped delivering much needed safe water to vulnerable areas in the city since March 15 due to the escalation of violence.”
8. Med shot, journalists
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Marixie Mercado, Spokesperson for UNICEF: “There is still an estimated 100,000 people, about half of whom are children, in Afrin district and they too need urgent humanitarian assistance. UNICEF and partners are ready and able to provide this assistance including medical items, that are said to be in short supply.”
10. Wide shot, journalists
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Marixie Mercado, Spokesperson for UNICEF:
“Reports indicate that tens of thousands still wait at exit points to be transported to collective shelters. From the four exit points in Eastern Ghouta, people are taken to seven collective shelters. More shelters are being allocated by the government on a daily basis as the number of evacuees rise.”
12. Wide shot, journalists
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrej Mahecic, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “We are alarmed by further deepening of the humanitarian crisis in Syria as fierce fighting in Eastern Ghouta, rural Damascus and Afrin in the country’s northwest causes massive new displacement.”
14. Med shot, journalists
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrej Mahecic, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “UNHCR takes no part in the current evacuation deal or in its implementation. But from the outset of the most recent escalation, our teams have been at the makeshift collective shelters as thousands of families, exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and sick with few or no belongings at all were arriving from Eastern Ghouta. More civilians continue to make their way out every day.”
16. Wide shot, journalists
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrej Mahecic, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “All existing shelters are extremely congested and overcrowded and lack basic sanitation. People que in lines for hours to use restrooms, and most have no lightning. UNHCR and partners have been working around the clock to provide life-saving assistance and this is done in close coordination with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), UN agencies and other humanitarian actors.”
18. Close up, journalist
19. Wide shot, podium
The United Nations (UN) urgently appealed to all parties to the conflict in Syria to ensure that humanitarian workers have access to those tens of thousands of people from Eastern Ghouta and Afrin that are facing harrowing humanitarian conditions.
Speaking today (20 Mar) to media in Geneva, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that “UN staff has seen people coming out of Eastern Ghouta, they have seen them coming out of Afrin, and they have seen the state that they are in, and frankly they are shocked. They are talking about those coming out of Eastern Ghouta. Most people that they interviewed had some sort of health condition, be intestinal infections, hepatitis, skin disease, trauma which are likely due to the lack of medicines and medical care for years.”
The situation in Afrin is equally desperate. Referring to the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria’s appeal to UN member states to provide much needed supplies and funding, Laerke said “in Afrin, people were scared and in deep distress. The call that the humanitarian coordinator comes out with is, as we have heard, for all the parties to the conflict to ensure that humanitarians have access to those in need, everybody in need, it is a call to protect the civilians, it is a call to protect medical workers, to protect service providers and protect humanitarian workers as well.”
UNICEF reported that since 20 days they haven’t been able to deliver health and nutrition supplies to Afrin district. Its spokesperson Marixie Mercado said “since March 6, people in Afrin city have suffered from severe water shortages as the source of water to Afrin city was reportedly damaged by fighting. UNICEF supported water trucks have also stopped delivering much needed safe water to vulnerable areas in the city since March 15 due to the escalation of violence.”
UNICEF is still responding to the immediate needs of about 20,000 families who have been displaced to surrounding villages of Afrin.
Mercado said “there is still an estimated 100,000 people, about half of whom are children, in Afrin district and they too need urgent humanitarian assistance”. She added that “UNICEF and partners are ready and able to provide this assistance including medical items, that are said to be in short supply.”
UNICEF estimates around 45,000 – 50,000 people have been evacuated from Eastern Ghouta since March 13, about 70 percent of them are women and children.
According to Mercado “reports indicate that tens of thousands still wait at exit points to be transported to collective shelters.”
She said “from the four exit points in Eastern Ghouta, people are taken to seven collective shelters. More shelters are being allocated by the government on a daily basis as the number of evacuees rise.”
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported about massive new displacement of Syrian civilians due to the heavy fighting in Eastern Ghouta and Afrin.
UNHCR’s spokesperson Andrej Mahecic said “we are alarmed by further deepening of the humanitarian crisis in Syria as fierce fighting in Eastern Ghouta, rural Damascus and Afrin in the country’s northwest causes massive new displacement.”
The Refugee Agency reiterated their call for the protection and safety of the newly displaced and civilians, still trapped by the fighting which are in dire need of help.
Mahecic said “UNHCR takes no part in the current evacuation deal or in its implementation” adding that “but from the outset of the most recent escalation, our teams have been at the makeshift collective shelters as thousands of families, exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and sick with few or no belongings at all were arriving from Eastern Ghouta. More civilians continue to make their way out every day.”
In the face of the growing Afrin emergency, UNHCR has scaled up its response, with 100,000 core relief items having been delivered in the last two days such as mattresses, blankets, high-thermal blankets, plastic sheets, solar lamps, clothes, and other basic items.
Mahecic noted “all existing shelters are extremely congested and overcrowded and lack basic sanitation. People que in lines for hours to use restrooms, and most have no lightning. UNHCR and partners have been working around the clock to provide life-saving assistance and this is done in close coordination with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), UN agencies and other humanitarian actors.”
