Syria

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with Virginia Gamba (centre right), Head of the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism, tasked with identifying “individuals, entities, groups, or governments involved in the use of chemicals as weapons” in Syria.
UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

INTERVIEW: The Syrian forces and ISIL used toxic chemicals as weapons – report

30 August 2016
Peace and Security

The Syrian Airforce and ISIL used toxic chemicals as weapons, according to a new report issued on Tuesday by Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), and mandated by the UN Security Council.

In the Syrian Arab Republic, an extended family takes shelter under a makeshift tent on the sidewalk after the latest wave of attacks.. The grandfather is wheelchair-bound. The children prepare a fire for cooking and hang out clothes to dry.
UNICEF/ Al-Issa

Diary from Syria: An eyewitness account of broken families, grief and survival

12 August 2016
Peace and Security

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) supports more than 4 million people inside Syria with food assistance. Heading its operation there since December last year is Swiss national Jakob Kern.

Jan Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council and Special Advisor to the UN Envoy for Syria, at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey.
OCHA

WHS: Humanitarian aid is 'failing' – in an interview, UN advisor tells why

24 May 2016
Humanitarian Aid

The humanitarian sector is failing to protect civilians from violence, a top UN advisor stressed today at the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in Istanbul, Turkey.