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Syria

Humanitarian needs in the Syrian Arab Republic - Report of the Secretary-General (S/2023/419) [EN/AR/RU/ZH]

Attachments

I. Introduction

1. The present review is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 2672 (2023), 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 June 2023. 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, recognizing that humanitarian activities were broader than solely addressing the immediate needs of the affected population and should include support to essential services through 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 report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018), 2449 (2018), 2504 (2020), 2533 (2020), 2585 (2021) and 2642 (2022), which the Council also requested in resolution 2672 (2023).

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 situation in the Syrian Arab Republic is one of the world’s most complex humanitarian and protection emergencies. The multiple earthquakes that struck the Syrian Arab Republic and Türkiye on 6 February 2023 have taken a terrible toll on Syrian communities already ravaged by 12 years of conflict. The earthquakes struck as humanitarian conditions in the Syrian Arab Republic were worsening, with needs at their highest level since the start of the conflict amid dwindling resources, a cholera outbreak, harsh winter conditions, ongoing violence and insecurity, displacement and related vulnerabilities, and deteriorating economic conditions. For the first time, people living in every subdistrict in the country are experiencing some degree of humanitarian stress. Some 4.1 million people are in areas with “extreme” or “catastrophic” needs. The Syrian Arab Republic still has the largest number of internally displaced persons in the world, and conditions in the country are driving one of the world’s largest refugee crises.