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STORY: GENEVA / SYRIA HOMS WRAP
TRT: 2:21
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 11 FEBRUARY 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, press room Palais des Nations
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Melissa Fleming, UNHCR spokesperson:
“During the evacuation there were about 338 who were either above the age of 15 or below the age of 55. These are men and they are being questioned by authorities in the presence of UNHCR and UNICEF in a school on the outskirts of Homs. Today 41 of them were released and are being transported to a neighbouring suburb where many of the evacuees are temporarily settling.”
3. Wide shot, presser
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson:
“Yesterday, luckily there were no reports of serious security incidents and the humanitarian pause in the cease fire was upheld yesterday contrary to what we saw at the weekend. By last night a total of 457 additional people had been evacuated including many sick and injured. This brings the total number of people evacuated from the old city in the past four days to 1132.”
5. Wide shot, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Fadéla Chaib, WHO spokesperson:
“Children under two have never been vaccinated in Homs. Many people are suffering from several diseases among them many have shin diseases for lack of water and sanitation. Five women are in late pregnancy; one of them had labour pains and gave birth after being transported to a nearby hospital.”
7. Med shot, presser
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
"It is, however, disgraceful that UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid workers delivering food and medical aid on Sunday were clearly targeted when the previous agreement to halt the fighting during the humanitarian operations was breached. It is a war crime to deliberately fire on those carrying out humanitarian operations."
9. Close up, journalist
10. Wide shot, press room
The UN Refugee Agency said today (11 Feb) that Syrian authorities are detaining and questioning more than 300 men deemed of fighting age, who fled the besieged rebel-held Old City of Homs during an agreed cease fire.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming said “during the evacuation there were about 338 who were either above the age of 15 or below the age of 55.”
She added “they are being questioned by authorities in the presence of UNHCR and UNICEF in a school on the outskirts of Homs. Today 41 of them were released and are being transported to a neighbouring suburb where many of the evacuees are temporarily settling.”
A UN-brokered 'humanitarian pause' has been extended until Wednesday to get aid into the area and help civilians leave the old quarter of Homs, which has been surrounded by President Bashar al-Assad's forces for more than 18 months.
Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told journalists at the same briefing that 1,132 people have been evacuated in the past four days; adding “yesterday, luckily there were no reports of serious security incidents and the humanitarian pause in the cease fire was upheld yesterday contrary to what we saw at the weekend.”
During the press conference, WHO spokesperson Fadéla Chaib said that “children under two have never been vaccinated in Homs. Many people are suffering from several diseases among them many have shin diseases for lack of water and sanitation.”
She added that “five women are in late pregnancy; one of them had labour pains and gave birth after being transported to a nearby hospital.”
Finally, Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that it was “disgraceful that UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid workers delivering food and medical aid on Sunday were clearly targeted when the previous agreement to halt the fighting during the humanitarian operations was breached.”
He added “it is a war crime to deliberately fire on those carrying out humanitarian operations.”
On Monday (10 Feb), the Syrian government and opposition agreed to extend a three-day truce in Old Homs to allow humanitarian access, after it was broken on Saturday.
