Syria

A man carried a child in his suitcase as he fled eastern Ghouta in 2018.
© UNICEF/UN0185401/Sanadiki

Syria: 10 years of war has left at least 350,000 dead

24 September 2021
Human Rights

A decade of war in Syria has left more 350,200 people dead, High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet told the Human Rights Council on Friday, noting that this total was an “under-count of the actual number of killings”.

The UN humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, visits the Transhipment Hub near the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the Syria-Turkey border.
©OCHA

Syria: Prevent ‘entire generation from being lost’, urges UN humanitarian chief

4 September 2021
Humanitarian Aid

Some 13.4 million Syrians throughout the beleaguered country are in need of assistance, the UN humanitarian office said on Saturday, calling for “greater access and expanded funding”, to better help them.

Families fleeing escalating violence in Deraa set up tents on the southwestern borders of Syria. (file)
UNICEF/Alaa Al-Faqir

Civilians in southern Syria ‘under siege’ – UN human rights chief

5 August 2021
Peace and Security

The top UN rights official once more sounded the alarm on Thursday over the plight of civilians in Syria, as intense fighting and indiscriminate shelling by Government forces and armed opposition groups paralyze neighbourhoods in and around the southern city of Daraa. 

Children wait for food distribution during the COVID-19 crisis in Aleppo, Syria.
© WFP/Jessica Lawson

Syria: Prolonged violence, violation and abuse ‘bound to affect generations to come’ 

19 May 2021
Peace and Security

Millions of children trapped in protracted conflict in Syria continue to endure severe violence with little support for survivors, according to the UN Secretary-General’s third report on the situation, launched on Wednesday.  

Children in the Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria face a harsh winter due to a lack of proper clothing.
© UNICEF/Delil Souleiman

Revived peace process, lasting calm, and a new constitution needed in Syria 

28 April 2021
Peace and Security

In addition to the challenges that all Syrians have faced during a 10-year conflict, women have experienced sexual and gender-based violence, early and forced marriage and trafficking, the country’s UN envoy told the Security Council on Wednesday. 

Young boys collect water from UNICEF-supported a water point in east Aleppo City in Syria.
© UNICEF/Khuder Al-Issa

Syria’s decade of ‘death, destruction, displacement, disease, dread and despair’

29 March 2021
Peace and Security

Now is not the moment to reduce humanitarian aid to Syria, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council on Monday, stressing that after 10 years of conflict, more support was needed to avoid further “dramatic and widespread” deterioration. 

A destroyed classroom at a girls high school in Syria, that was attacked in March 2020.
UNICEF/Ali Haj Suleiman

Syria: Grim 10-year anniversary of ‘unimaginable violence and indignities’ 

15 March 2021
Peace and Security

As the Syrian war reaches its grim decade-long milestone, the UN envoy for the country told the Security Council on Monday that it will “go down as one of the darkest chapters in recent history” referring to the Syrian people as among “the greatest victims of this century”. 

Syrian refugee and poet, Amineh Abou Kerech, (16) left her war-torn country at the age of seven.
Mohammad Abou Kerech

First Person: Poetry and the pain of loss and leaving; a voice from Syria

14 March 2021
Culture and Education

A young Syrian woman has told the United Nations how poetry helped her to convey the emotions of all the children who have been caught up in the decade-long civil war in her country.

Destroyed buildings in eastern Aleppo city, Syria.
OCHA/Halldorsson

Fate still unclear of ‘tens of thousands’ of civilian detainees in Syria 

1 March 2021
Human Rights

The fate of tens of thousands of civilians being held in Syria’s “notorious” prisons or detention centres is still unclear, 10 years after the country’s civil war began, UN investigators said on Monday. 

A baby is screened for malnutrition at Al-Hol camp in northern Syria.
© UNICEF/Masoud Hasen

UNICEF urges repatriation of all children in Syria’s Al-Hol camp following deadly fire

28 February 2021
Peace and Security

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Sunday urged all countries to repatriate and safely reintegrate their young nationals being held at Syria’s largest camp for refugees and internally-displaced, following a deadly weekend fire at Al-Hol camp which saw at least three children die, and another 15 injured.