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STORY: UN / SYRIA
TRT: 2.43
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 27 FEBRUARY 2013, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
27 FEBRUARY 2013, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Valerie Amos walks up to the stakeout position
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
3. Close up, reporter’s notepad
27 FEBRUARY 2013, NEW YORK CITY
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“We are doing all we can on the humanitarian side to engage in discussions and negotiations with the opposition, with the Government, to do our best to scale up operations, but quite frankly, the pace at which we are able to do this is much slower than the pace at which the crisis is evolving. I am also extremely concerned by the rising costs of this. We asked for 1.5 billion for our response for the next six months. Those figures are already out of date.”
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
5. Close up, reporter’s notepad
27 FEBRUARY 2013, NEW YORK CITY
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Haja Zainab Hawa Bangura, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“Sexual violence against women, against men, against boys and girls is widespread. We do not have access in most of the opposition areas. We also discussed the information we have in the case where most of the people who have been displaced actually indicated that they were displaced because they had indication that sexual violence was going to be committed against them. So, it triggers a huge displacement of people.”
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
7. Close up, reporter’s notepad
27 FEBRUARY 2013, NEW YORK CITY
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Udo Janz, Head of UNHCR's New York Office:
“In April 2012 UNHCR had a total of 33,000 Syrian refugees on our books in the region. As of yesterday we had registered or given out registration documents to some 336,000 refugees or nearly thirty times increase over the period of 10 months ago. In fact since early January some 40,000 Syrians have fled every week into the neighbouring countries.”
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
9. Close up, cameras
27 FEBRUARY 2013, NEW YORK CITY
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Bashar Ja'afari, Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations:
“Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pledged each one of them 300 million dollars. The same day as the conference was still going on in Kuwait Saudi Arabia revocated (sic), and United Arab Emirates retrieved its pledges, and Kuwait did not pay what it promised. So, out of 1.5 billion dollars you have automatically 900 million dollars outside. They will not be paid off. It’s a kind of cinema, gentlemen.”
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
11. Close up, reporter’s notepad
27 FEBRUARY 2013, NEW YORK CITY
12. Zoom out, Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari of Syria walks away from the stakeout position
The United Nations top humanitarian official said today (27 February) that the pace of the humanitarian agencies response in Syria “is much slower than the pace at which the crisis is evolving.”
Valerie Amos, who heads the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), also expressed concern at the rising costs of the response saying that the figure of 1.5 billion requested from donor nations, is “already out of date.”
Representatives from Member States, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations gathered in Kuwait City on 30 January to attend the high-level International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria.
The conference, which was hosted by the Emir of Kuwait, His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah, and chaired by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, gave Member States an opportunity to continue supporting the much-needed humanitarian response seeking 1.5 billion dollars to help millions of people affected by the Syria crisis.
Also speaking to reporters today after a closed briefing to the Security Council by UN humanitarian agencies, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Haja Zainab Hawa Bangura, said “sexual violence against women, against men, against boys and girls is widespread” in Syria.
According to her office, there have been multiple allegations of abduction and rape of women and girls in Syria by armed groups. In a recent case, an armed group in north-west Syria allegedly hijacked a bus and abducted at least 40 civilians, mostly women and children.
Bangura said “most of the people who have been displaced actually indicated that they were displaced because they had indication that sexual violence was going to be committed against them.”
Speaking on behalf of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Head of UNHCR's New York Office, Udo Janz, said there has been a “nearly thirty times increase” over a period of 10 months in the number of people displaced, and “in fact since early January some 40,000 Syrians have fled every week into the neighbouring countries.”
According to UNHCR, an additional 2 million have been internally displaced since the conflict began almost two years ago, and over 4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Also speaking to reporters, Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari questioned the intentions of some donor countries.
Ja'afari said Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had each pledged 300 million dollars at the Kuwait conference, but “the same day as the conference was still going on in Kuwait Saudi Arabia revocated (sic), and United Arab Emirates retrieved its pledges, and Kuwait did not pay what it promised.”
He said that the pledges “will not be paid off” adding that “it’s a kind of cinema, gentlemen.”
Up to 70,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.
