Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
25 March 2025
As delivered
Thank you, Mr. President.
As [Special Envoy] Geir [Pedersen] has set out, the past month has underscored the fragility and hope of the transition in Syria. A true crossroads. The stakes are high.
So today, I want to highlight, in support, four points:
First, the encouraging news. We are making progress, with thanks to the teams on the ground and those who back us, on scaled-up, ambitious humanitarian response.
We’re now using more routes to deliver aid. Since the start of the year, we have expanded cross-border deliveries from Türkiye – a relatively cost-effective route – through which we can now reach warehouses across the country, including Damascus and Homs.
I am grateful to the interim authorities for their extension of permission to use the Bab al-Salam and Al-Ra’ee crossings.
We’re also working to have more efficient procedures for aid delivery. We have a practical and problem-solving engagement with the interim authorities to address ongoing liquidity challenges and further streamline procedures.
As I have made clear already here, we count on their continued support for further easing registration for humanitarian NGOs, especially – as part of the humanitarian reset that I set out last month – as we’re allocating a higher proportion of funding for Syrian partners, who are truly at the front lines of the response.
We’re also proceeding at pace with the transition to our new humanitarian coordination architecture.
And we’re engaging various Member States to further ease sanctions and restrictions that affect our operations.
Through this combination of efforts, we – on your behalf – are getting support to millions of people across Syria every month.
Infrastructure is being repaired to restore access to water for millions. For example, Atareb Water Station in Aleppo resumed operations on 14 March, powered by solar and now supporting 40,000 people.
Dozens of nutrition centres and mobile teams are screening children and providing services for children and mothers.
Over 1,100 operations have been conducted to clear over 1,700 pieces of unexploded ordnance – a vital part of creating conditions for Syrians to return to their homes and communities.
I welcome Qatar’s agreement to provide Syrians with support for electricity supply, via Jordan. And refugees are returning – UNHCR estimate 355,000 since December.
Which leads of course to my second point: We need more funding.
We are under no illusions right now about the grim financial outlook for humanitarian support globally.
In this bracing funding context, we will deploy the resources we have as effectively as we can. We have completed a country-wide rapid needs assessment, and are monitoring displacement and population movements, to sharpen our response.
We are also, I’m afraid, having to make brutal choices, including to focus our current appeal on the most vulnerable – only about half the total people who actually are in need of our support.
Last year’s appeal was only 35 per cent funded – causing us to reduce our humanitarian response by more than half.
The outlook now, of course, is gloomier: Our initial survey suggests that almost half of US-funded organizations have received full or partial stop orders, with a 40 per cent cut in humanitarian staff across the country.
This year, we are appealing for US$2 billion to reach 8 million of the most vulnerable people through June. We have received only about $155 million of this to date – that’s just 13 per cent of what we need.
Funding cuts don’t mean that humanitarian needs disappear. More than 16 million people – nearly three quarters of the population – continue to lack sufficient food, water, shelter and services.
To save more lives, we need more money.
I, like Geir, was encouraged by the generous pledges made to Syria and its people at the Brussels Conference last week, including from several countries around this table. In total, $6.3 billion pledged. Thank you.
I hope these funds materialize and can be disbursed quickly.
A third point: To underline the Special Envoy’s message, protection of civilians and the de-escalation of ongoing conflicts must remain front and centre.
While security has improved since December, we are still seeing daily reports of clashes, attacks and other hostilities in a range of areas.
And as you responded to in your Presidential Statement, violence in the coastal areas earlier this month, with reports of hundreds of civilians killed – including a UN colleague – was horrendous. Our Humanitarian Coordinator will visit the coastal area in the coming days.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced, including some 15,000 to neighbouring Lebanon.
Clashes and attacks have also continued in parts of eastern Aleppo, north-east Syria and southern areas, with civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure.
Meanwhile, civilians, including many children, continue to be killed or maimed by explosive remnants of war at truly shocking levels, with over 600 casualties since December alone.
The announcement that Geir described between the interim authorities and Syrian Democratic Forces gives us some hope that we can reach and respond to the needs in north-east Syria more effectively.
All parties must, of course, take constant care to protect civilians and the critical infrastructure that they rely on.
And we need to redouble efforts to see through that inclusive transition that will lead to more sustainable peace.
Mr. President,
Fourth and finally, we need to move with greater urgency to invest in Syria’s recovery, reconstruction and development. The people of Syria want to rebuild their country and their livelihoods.
Expanding services will be essential to enable that. According to UNHCR, 3.5 million IDPs and refugees are ready to return to their homes in the coming year. But if they have the basics – shelter, electricity, water, sanitation, education, work.
And this will require investment, time and consistent engagement – given the complex web of sanctions and other restrictions in place, as well as the magnitude of destruction and needs.
Mr. President,
Let me repeat: 16 million people – nearly three quarters of the Syrian population – lack sufficient food, water, shelter, medicine.
I have described the real progress we have made to scale up the international response, despite the security risks, political challenges and these deep, deep funding cuts.
We are making and will make the toughest choices to ensure that every dollar saves lives. We will demand that civilians are protected, and that all Syrians – including women and girls, especially women and girls – feel that their rights and freedoms are guaranteed.
And we will press you for the support we need to carry on delivering in that way.
After 14 years of conflict and devastation, the people of Syria have had barely 14 weeks to chart a new path. There are real reasons for hope, based on how far they have come.
But there is no time to spare. Let us be problem solvers rather than problem observers.
We need to move with greater urgency, while we can. The price of failure will far outweigh the investment that we are asking for.
The cost of hesitation is greater than the risk of decisive action.
The people of Syria deserve the chance to see through the monumental task ahead of them and build a peaceful, prosperous, inclusive future.
As so many Syrians told me, they want to return to being a community that exports kindness, rather than imports generosity.
At a time when international solidarity appears to be in retreat, let’s not retreat from meeting this moment with energy and ambition. Thank you.