The imminent closure of the last cross-border aid lifeline to northwest Syria must be postponed beyond the 10 July deadline, UN humanitarians said on Friday, noting that no cross-line supplies had reached Idlib from Damascus, in 11 months.
The unprecedented rise in people requiring humanitarian assistance will continue unless countries collaborate better to combat conflict, climate change and disease, including COVID-19.
That’s the firm belief of the UN’s top aid official, Mark Lowcock, who leaves this week after four years heading its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
He spoke in depth to UN News’s Dianne Penn.
Music credit: Ketsa, ‘Wounds’
Nearly 400 children have been killed in Yemen since violence escalated in March, according to a report released on Wednesday by the UN children’s agency, UNICEF.
Fighting between government forces and rebel groups has created what the UN has described as one of the world’s most pressing humanitarian emergencies.
Some 21 million people in Yemen—roughly 80 per cent of the population—are in need of aid relief.
UNICEF says the conflict is “a particular tragedy” for children.