9 Nov 2012

GENEVA / SYRIA HUMANITARIAN

UN humanitarian agencies today reported a surge in refugees from Syria, with over eleven thousand fleeing to neighbouring countries in the last 24 hours alone. CH UNTV

Posted at: November 9, 2012 3:55 pm

Duration: 02:32

Available in: SD

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STORY: GENEVA / SYRIA HUMANITARIAN
TRT: 2.32
SOURCE: CH UNTV 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

DATELINE: 9 NOVEMBER 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1.	Wide shot, exterior Palais des Nations.

9 NOVEMBER 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2.	Wide shot, press room
3.	SOUNDBITE (English) Radhouane Nouicer, UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria: 
"Syrians pay the price in three manners; through displacement inside and outside the country; the physical loss of lives that happens everyday, if not every hour; the economic losses in view of the collapse of the economy, in view of the huge destruction in basic infrastructure, including the social infrastructure, including hospitals and schools and other public facilities."
4.	Close up, journalists
5.	SOUNDBITE (English) Panos Moumtzis, Regional Refugee Coordinator, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): 
"In the last 24 hours alone, we have received over 11,000 Syrian refugees that fled to the neighbouring countries. 9,000 that fled into Turkey, 1,000 into Jordan, 1,000 to Lebanon; which brings the total number of registered or assisted refugees in the region to over 408,000 Syrian refugees. This is the highest number we have received so far and I would say the arrival of the last 24 hours is really one of the highest we have had for quite some time."
6.	Med shot, journalists
7.	SOUNDBITE (English) Panos Moumtzis, Regional Refugee Coordinator, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): 
"It's simply unacceptable that today only 35 percent of the support for the refugees is funded for."
8.	Close up, photographer
9.	SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Brennan, Director, World Health Organization (WHO): 
"During a recent assessment to Homs, we were able to document that approximately fifty percent of the physicians had left that city and specifically of the 27 physicians working for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Homs only four were at their post during that assessment."
10.	Med shot, UNICEF spokeswoman
11.	SOUNDBITE (English) Dermot Carty, Director UNICEF Geneva:
"When we speak about these numbers and we hear figures of 400,000 refugees and 2.5 million people affected inside Syria, half of those are children.  And as you know this conflict has been going on for more than 18 months, in the life of a child 18 months is a lifetime. So in many of their heads they have been going through terror for the better part of a lifetime in their heads. Children are the most vulnerable, children don't have a voice, in fact children are innocent victims of this crisis."
12.	Wide shot, press room

STORYLINE:

UN humanitarian officials said today (9 November) more than 408,000 Syrian refugees have fled to neighbouring countries to escape the violence in Syria.

Panos Moumtzis, Regional Refugee Coordinator for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) told journalists in Geneva that more than eleven thousand fled in the past twenty-four hours alone.

Speaking after a meeting of the Syria Humanitarian Forum, Moumtzis said nine thousand had fled to Turkey and a thousand each to Jordan and Lebanon.

This, he said, was one of the highest arrival rates in some time.

Given the scope of the crisis, Moumtzis added, it was simply unacceptable that only 35 percent of the funding needed to help refugees had been provided.

Agency officials spoke of the overall situation, its effects on people and the humanitarian challenge.

Richard Brennan, a Director with the World Health Organization (WHO) referred to the shortage of medical personnel.

While WHO had no overall figure for the country, Brennan said they had evidence that fifty percent of the doctors had left the city of Homs and that at the time of their assessment, only four of the 27 doctors working for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent were at their posts.

UNICEF representative Dermot Carty said half of the 2.5 million people affected by the Syrian conflict were children. He recalled that the conflict had been going on for eighteen months. For a child, that could mean the better part of a lifetime.

In addition to those that have crossed the border to Syria's neighbouring countries, a further 2.5 million Syrians urgently need humanitarian aid.

More than 20,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in Syria since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 20 months ago.