Highlights
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In 2021, UNICEF reached 11.3 million people, including 7.3 million children (3.6 million girls) with humanitarian assistance. Families living in the most severely affected and inaccessible areas were prioritized, with 276,000 people reached in difficult to access and 1.8 million in moderately accessible areas.
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The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance and protection in Syria increased by 21 per cent from 11.1 million in 2020 to 13.4 million in 2021, with 6.08 million children affected. This increase was driven by an economic crisis, violence in the north-west and other parts of the country, mass displacement, devastated public services and COVID-19.
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Syria has registered 179,895 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, including 6,666 deaths. So far, at least 1.5 million people are recorded as receiving vaccines across Syria (1,260,427 in Government of Syria and north-east Syria areas and 246,258 in north-west Syria).
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In 2021, UNICEF required $334,430,071 to provide lifesaving assistance to 9.1 million people (including 5.5 million children) across Syria according to the Humanitarian Action for Children. $217,511,516 was made available, leave a $116,918,555 (35 per cent) gap.
Situation in Numbers
6,080,000 children in need of humanitarian assistance
13,400,000 people in need
6,700,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs)
2,565,766 children in difficult to access areas
(source: OCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview, 2021)
Funding Overview and Partnerships
In 2021, UNICEF required $334,430,071 to provide lifesaving assistance to 9.1 million people (including 5.5 million children) across Syria according to the Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC). Of the total funding requirements, $217,511,516 was made available, leaving a $116,918,554 (35 per cent) gap. Funding gaps for Nutrition (54 per cent) and Social Protection (49 per cent) remain particularly acute, with critical needs also seen in other sectors.
This year, the Governments of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States as well as ECHO, the Syria Humanitarian Fund and UNICEF national committees generously contributed to the UNICEF humanitarian response across Syria. UNICEF expresses its sincere gratitude to all public and private partners for this critical support.
UNICEF continued to lead the Water and Sanitation, Education, Nutrition Sectors/Clusters and the Child Protection Area of Responsibility and the Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Group. Further, UNICEF also coleads, together with World Vision International, the No Lost Generation Initiative, bringing together 39 UN and NGO partners to advocate for the protection, education and development of Syrian children, adolescents and young people, within the umbrella of the Syria HRP and the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP).
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance and protection in Syria increased by 21 per cent from 11.1 million in 2020 to 13.4 million in 2021, with 6.08 million children affected (up from 5 million in 2020). Humanitarian needs increased, driven by an economic crisis, continuing violence in the north-west and other parts of the country, mass displacement, devastated public services and COVID-19.
Humanitarian needs in north-west Syria (NW Syria) were among the worst in the country, with 3.4 out of 4.2 million people in need of assistance2. Hostilities continued along the frontlines in Idleb and Aleppo, with the most significant increase in hostilities in October, since the ceasefire agreement of March 2020. Intermittent artillery fire and ground shelling affected northern Hama, Latakia and northern Aleppo. Security and military operations in different locations in north-east Syria (NE Syria) were intensified, including airstrikes.
Although no major military operations took place in the country throughout 2021, civilians continued to be heavily impacted by violence across the country, including by clashes among the conflicting parties, unexploded ordnance, improvised explosives and others. Children in Syria continue to face high levels of risk, the Syria Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism reported 2,271 grave violations against children in 2021, including 898 children killed or injured; 69 per cent of verified violations were in NW Syria.
Cross-border and crossline operations: On 9 July, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2585 extending the use of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing point in NW Syria. On 10 January, this access was confirmed to be in effect to 10 July 20223. In line with the Resolution 2585, which also calls for efforts to improve crossline deliveries of humanitarian assistance, UNICEF’s efforts to deliver aid crossline to complement cross-border operations, will also continue.
In 2021,UNICEF delivered $8.8 million in supplies from Damascus to NES and reached more than 983,000 people in the non-government-controlled areas in the Al-Hassakeh, Ar-Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor Governorates in NE Syria as well as 25,000 people reached crossline in Aleppo during December, who are supported with clean water in Al-Brij, Atareb, Babtu and Kafr Kamin.
COVID-19: Syria has registered 179,895 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, including 6,666 deaths. This includes 36,960 cases with 1,480 deaths in NE Syria and 92,884 cases with 2,315 deaths in NW Syria. The actual number of cases is assumed to be far higher due to limited testing capacity. There have been 2,682 cases identified in schools since the start of the school year in September: 469 students and 2,213 teachers/administrators, including 14 deaths.
Water crisis in northern Syria: Water flows in the Euphrates River from Turkey into Syria decreased by half from January to June 2021.4 As of October, water levels remained low, affected by limited and varying rainfall5. By the end of August 2021, a third of the 200 water stations along the river remain significantly affected, impacting 4.5 million people across the region.
Alouk Water Station: During 2021, Alouk water station witnessed several disruptions, with 83 days out of service and 26 days with partial service. Since the end of 2019, over 460,000 people in Al-Hasakeh City and surrounding areas, and an additional half million in NE Syria, have been intermittently deprived of access to safe drinking water due to interruptions to the pumping of water and electricity provision.
Al-Hol Camp: IDPs in Al-Hol (57,000 people, 65 per cent children) and Al-Roj (2,600 people, 67 per cent children). Camps continue to face acute security threats. From January 2021 to January 2022, 90 murders of Syrian and Iraqi camp residents have been reported, including at least two humanitarian workers.6 Despite repatriation efforts, the population of Al-Hol Camp decreased by only 10 per cent in 2021, including 3 per cent of third-country national (TCN) children. As of October, 7,800 TCN children still require repatriation.
Dar’a Al-Balad: There were 850 reported security incidents resulting in at least 445 fatalities in southern Syria in 2021. Conflict broke out between government-allied forces and non-state armed groups in Dara’a Al-Balad (population: 55,0008) on 24 June and continued until September. The fighting displaced 36,424 people. After a ceasefire agreement signed on 9 September, the situation began to stabilize. By November, the majority of those displaced had returned home, with an estimated 3,700 people unable to return due to the severity of damage to their homes.
Rukban: The UN continues to advocate for access to close to 12,000 people, mostly women and children, who are living in the Rukban area on the Jordanian border; the UN has remained without access since September 2019. UNICEF, through its collaboration with SARC, continues to support the spontaneous departures of women and children who require medical attention while at Al-Waha transit site. In December, UNICEF partners vaccinated 19 such children as well as screening them for malnutrition. Five children and three pregnant or lactating women were identified and began treatment for moderate acute malnutrition (MAM).
Socio-economic situation: In December, the national average price of the standard reference food basket reached its highest recorded level since monitoring started in 2013 at SYP 220,112.Fuel shortages contributed to this increase. Devaluation of the local currency against the US Dollar and volatility in the informal exchange rate continued. On 22 March, the Central Bank increased the exchange rate from SYP 1,256 to SYP 2,500 to the US Dollar. Meanwhile, Syrians living in NW Syria, and humanitarian assistance to this area, have been affected as the Turkish Lira lost 40 per cent of its value against the US Dollar in 2021.