The United Nations hunger relief agency on Wednesday joined a chorus of international organizations and partners in the quest for an end to seven years of conflict in Syria, urging warring parties to allow humanitarian access for the delivery of life-saving assistance to those desperately in need.
“Every day that goes by without a resolution to this crisis is another day where we have failed the people of Syria,” Jakob Kern, World Food Programme (WFP) Representative and Country Director in Syria, said in a news release.
“The single greatest priority must be an end to this conflict. History will hold us accountable,” he added.
The conflict, which is entering its eighth year, has brought intolerable suffering to millions of people. In many parts of the country, the violence has reached unbearable levels and still.
Every day, families under bombardment and shelling face a nightmare and more innocent lives are lost. More than a third of Syria’s population is internally displaced.
Every day that goes by without a resolution to this crisis is another day where we have failed the people of Syria.
With this continuous displacement come alarmingly high levels of hunger and need. Some 6.5 million people in Syria are food insecure and another four million people – twice as many as a year ago – are at risk of becoming so.
Since the conflict started, food prices have soared beyond the reach of many. Bread is now eight times more expensive compared to pre-crisis times. Today, a shocking seven in ten Syrians live in extreme poverty.
In 2017, UN-led humanitarian convoys reached 820,200 people inside Syria, according to UN relief agencies.
“We are humans. We are civilians. We do not deserve this. My children are hungry and have no food to eat,” a resident in Eastern Ghouta told WFP during a rare delivery of humanitarian aid in February – rare because the fighting hardly ever lets up long enough for humanitarian convoys to reach the besieged enclave.
WFP, which each year assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries, said it adds its voice to the call for peace and safe, unhindered and unconditional humanitarian access in Syria.
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