Five UN agencies on Monday called on Syrian political leaders to meet their responsibility to the people of Syria and to the future of the region.
Valerie Amos, Emergency Relief Coordinator of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of World Food Programme, Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Anthony Lake, Executive Director of United Nations Children's Fund and Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, launched this joint appeal for Syria.
After the more than two-year-long conflict claimed over 70,000 deaths with thousands of children among them, displaced more than five million people with over a million refugees living in severely stressed neighboring countries, and torn apart families and razed communities, it seemed that governments and parties that could stop the tragedy in Syria haven't been sufficiently aware of the urgency yet, said the five heads of UN agencies.
With the support of many governments and people, the five agencies have helped give a roof over more than a million Syrian refugees and provide millions of Syrian people falling victim to the conflict with the access to basic necessities, but their capacity to do more is being challenged by security and other practical limitations within Syria as well as funding constraints, according to the appeal.
The appeal was addressed to all involved in the conflict and to all governments that can influence them, asking them to "save the Syrian people and save the region from disaster" and calling on political leaders involved to "use their collective influence to insist on a political solution to this horrendous crisis before hundreds of thousands more people lose their homes and lives and futures--in a region that is already at the tipping point."
GENEVA, April 15 (Xinhua)
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