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STORY: GENEVA / HCR-SYRIA
TRT: 1.49
SOURCE: CH UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 12 OCTOBER 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FILE – RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior Palais des Nations
2. 17 AUGUST 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
3. Wide shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Melissa Fleming, Chief UNHCR Spokesperson:
“The internal displacement figure is averaged at about 1.2 million people displaced inside the country. Many of those people, not just having been displaced once, but they're moving around as the conflict moves itself. So they’ve been displaced many times, they’re living with families but they’re also living in public buildings, and winter is approaching there.”
5. Med shot, row of journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Melissa Fleming, Chief UNHCR Spokesperson:
“It is awful to be a refugee. It’s awful to live in a tent. It’s even worse if you have to live in a tent when it’s freezing and windy and cold and wet outside, so we want to make sure that at least the situation is liveable and warm and sheltered for these people who have no other choice. Survival is their only option fleeing across borders.”
7. Close up, camera viewfinder
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Melissa Fleming, Chief UNHCR Spokesperson:
“Our ability to reach people in need is hampered by terrible violence. So, the people we are reaching primarily are in urban areas where we do have offices. But the people who are outside of those areas of operations, it’s very difficult. I have to acknowledge that the Syrian Arab Red Crescent is undertaking heroic efforts to reach people in places where the UN can’t go.”
9. Med shot, journalists
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said today (12 October) that refugees who are spread across Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq will require tents specially adopted for the winter months, warm clothing, high thermal blankets, hot water bottles, fuel for heating in addition to the regular supplies of food and water.
UNHCR and other agencies are stockpiling relief supplies to assist the over 340,000 Syrian refugees through the coming harsh winter months.
Speaking to the press in Geneva, Melissa Fleming, Chief UNHCR Spokesperson said “It is awful to be a refugee. It’s awful to live in a tent. It’s even worse if you have to live in a tent when it’s freezing and windy and cold and wet outside, so we want to make sure that at least the situation is liveable and warm and sheltered for these people who have no other choice.”
Fleming said the organization will require at least 64 million US dollars for winter preparations throughout the region, and also cater for the over 1.2 million Syrian displaced inside the country.
Between two and three thousand people were still fleeing across borders every day, she said, “many of those people, not just having been displaced once, but they're moving around as the conflict moves itself” said Fleming.
In Jordan, UNHCR intends to focus on two refugee populations, those in camps and the 75 percent (10,000) living in the local communities. Cash assistance was being offered, alongside clothing, fuel and rental payments. The Norwegian Refugee Council is preparing a winter strategy in the camps to include the provision of stoves, fuel, warm clothing, thermal blankets, plastic sheeting and hot water bottles.
Meanwhile in Lebanon, there were currently some 94,213 Syrians either registered or awaiting refugee registration, all living in the local community. Some were living rent-free with local families, while others were renting housing and with prices rising, more support was needed. The provision of adequate shelter had been a persistent concern and UNHCR was taking steps to help alleviate that pressure.
