I. Introduction
1. The present review is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 2642 (2022), in which the Council requested that the Secretary-General provide a special report on the humanitarian needs in the Syrian Arab Republic by no later than 10 December 2022. Also in the resolution, the Council called upon humanitarian agencies to step up further initiatives to broaden the humanitarian activities in the Syrian Arab Republic, including water, sanitation, health, education, electricity where essential to restore access to basic services, and shelter early recovery projects. The report complements the inputs of the regular 60-day report of the Secretary-General on the Syrian Arab Republic, which the Council also requested in the resolution.
2. The information contained herein is based on available data from the United Nations system, compiled from humanitarian agencies, partners and other relevant sources. Information was gathered both in writing and through meetings held during visits to Damascus, Ankara, Gaziantep and Amman.
II. Overview of humanitarian needs in the Syrian Arab Republic
3. The Syrian Arab Republic faces a multitude of challenges, making it one of the most complex humanitarian and protection emergencies on the planet. After 11 years of conflict, the country still has the largest number of internally displaced persons in the world, driving one of the world’s largest refugee crises, and the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate. Basic services are struggling, cholera has spread across the country amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, economic indicators continue to worsen, and climatic and human-caused shocks are compounding the already dire situation. As a result of these challenges, 15.3 million people among a total population of 22.1 million are anticipated to require humanitarian assistance in 2023, compared with 14.6 million people in 2022. This is the highest level of people in need since the start of the conflict.