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STORY: UN / AMOS
TRT: 2.51
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
DATELINE: 2 JANUARY 2014, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
2 JANUARY 2014, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Amos at the dais
3. Wide shot, audience
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“We ended 2013 with three Level 3 system-wide emergencies. Level 3, as you know, are our highest level of humanitarian crises. They are for Syria, Central African Republic, and the Philippines. And we enter 2014 with multiple severe humanitarian crises threatening or affecting the lives of millions of people.”
5. Med shot, audience
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“Two weeks ago, I launched the overview of global humanitarian response for 2014. Our assessment then was that we need 12.9 billion dollars this year to reach 52 million people in need in 17 countries. Since then, developments in the Central African Republic and South Sudan have already added tens of thousands of people to the list of those who need our help and support. And with the ongoing emergencies in Syria, the Philippines and elsewhere, our collective response capacity and our resources, are being stretched to the limit.”
7. Med shot, audience
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“2013 was a real test of the global humanitarian system. There is no indication that this year is going to be any different. It’s clear that the United Nations and our partners are needed more than ever. The extent and complexity of the emergencies I have mentioned will continue to pose significant challenges to the humanitarian response system.”
9. Med shot, journalist
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“We are having food delivered. WFP and other UN organizations are supporting these efforts, trying to get clean water to those camps, trying to make sure that there is health care provided, but you can understand the difficulty of thousands of people coming into a facility which has not been set up for that.”
11. Med shot, journalist
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“One of the things that we hope to address through the Presidential Statement that was agreed on Syria is this issue of besieged communities, some of them very close to Damascus, that we have not been able to get in for four months. And the Yarmuk refugee camp, which hosts Palestinian refugees in Damascus, is one of those places.”
13. Med shot, journalist
14. Wide shot, dais
An unprecedented number of people are beginning the New Year either internally displaced or as refugees, the United Nations humanitarian chief warned today (2 January), urging sustained support in 2014 for millions who have been driven from their homes by violence and bloodshed or uprooted by devastating natural disasters.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos, briefing reporters in New York said 2013 ended with three Level 3 system-wide emergencies, the highest level of humanitarian crises, “and we enter 2014 with multiple severe humanitarian crises threatening or affecting the lives of millions of people.”
Amos said the past year was marked by the international community’s massive efforts to ease suffering in war-torn Syria and typhoon-hit Philippines, and the new year has opened amid sectarian fighting in both Central African Republic and South Sudan.
She noted that two weeks ago she launched the overview of global humanitarian response for 2014 which required 12.9 billion dollars this year to reach 52 million people in need in 17 countries. Since then, she said, with the new crises “our collective response capacity and our resources are being stretched to the limit.”
Amos said “2013 was a real test of the global humanitarian system” and “there is no indication that this year is going to be any different.”
On South Sudan, she said food and water are being delivered by WFP and other UN organizations while also “trying to make sure that there is health care provided, but you can understand the difficulty of thousands of people coming into a facility which has not been set up for that.”
Thousands of people are estimated to have died in the violence and some 180,000 others have been driven from their homes, up to 75,000 of them seeking refuge on UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) bases, which has been authorized by the Security Council to almost double its armed strength to nearly 14,000 in an effort to protect civilians.
On Syria, Amos said “one of the things that we hope to address through the Presidential Statement that was agreed on Syria is this issue of besieged communities, some of them very close to Damascus, that we have not been able to get in for four months.”
She said the Yarmuk refugee camp, which hosts Palestinian refugees in Damascus, “is one of those places.”
The Presidential Statement issued by the Security Council in October, called for all parties “to respect the UN guiding principles of humanitarian emergency assistance” and stressed the importance “of such assistance being delivered on the basis of need, devoid of any political prejudices and aims.”
