28 Jan 2013

UN / SYRIA GING

Ahead of a major humanitarian pledging conference for Syria, a senior United Nations relief official today (28 January) urged greater funding to assist millions of people in need amid a deteriorating situation inside the country and a particularly harsh winter in the region. UNTV / OCHA

Posted at: January 28, 2013 5:05 pm

Duration: 02:50

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN / SYRIA GING
TRT: 2.50
SOURCE: UNTV / OCHA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

DATELINE: 28 JANUARY 2013, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1.	Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

28 JANUARY 2013, NEW YORK CITY

2.	Med shot, dais
3.	Wide shot, journalists
4.	SOUNDBITE (English) John Ging, Operations Director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
"So many of the schools are now taken up as temporary shelters, and this of course is now almost two years of interruption of schooling for children. But more than that, you can really see the electrical network being dismantled; you can see the telecommunications system, the irrigation, attacks on irrigation, watering systems and agriculture. It's really shocking the scale of the devastation."
5.	Wide shot, journalists
6.	SOUNDBITE (English) John Ging, Operations Director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
"There are misperceptions out there that the UN is only delivering to those in Government controlled areas and I was pleased to provide them with the facts and figures that actually 48 percent of our food assistance is going into the disputed and opposition controlled areas. We don't have adequate levels of assistance, that's a big issue for us. Fifty percent underfunded means that we are quite simply falling far short."
7.	Med shot, journalists
8.	SOUNDBITE (English) John Ging, Operations Director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
"The whole issue of aid integrity in a conflict zone is top priority and we all know what the risks are associated with that. So this was one of our key demands of the Government and after a considerable discussion they agreed that we would have, from their perspective, all of the support that we needed to cross the conflict lines."
9.	SOUNDBITE (English) John Ging, Operations Director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
"We need to be present in more locations so that we can better again be on top of the humanitarian situation. We also addressed issues of streamlining the bureaucracy, the time taken to get visas, the time taken to get so many of the different, what should be straightforward routine approvals. Again, this is slowing down and hampering our operation."
10.	Med shot, journalist
11.	Wide shot, dais

FILE – OCHA - 19 JANUARY 2013, HOMS, SYRIA

12.	Med shot, bullet holes
13.	Various shots, residents of Baba Amr 
14.	Med shot, destroyed car in Baba Amr
15.	Various shot, streets of Baba Amr
16.	Wide shot, OCHA Operations Director John Ging arriving for meeting with Governor of Homs, Ahmad Munir Mohammad

STORYLINE:

John Ging, the Director of Operations for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told a news conference in New York that the scale of devastation in Syria was "really shocking," including widespread damage to the electrical network, telecommunications, and irrigation systems, as well as "almost two years of interruption of schooling for children."

Ging, who recently led an inter-agency humanitarian mission to Syria and Lebanon, cited a funding shortfall that is affecting the ability of the UN and its partners to deliver vital assistance, including food, water and medical supplies.

He said there were "misperceptions out there that the UN is only delivering to those in Government controlled areas" noting that 48 percent of food assistance is going into the disputed and opposition controlled regions.

"A big issue" he said was that the operations are 50 percent underfunded, meaning "that we are quite simply falling far short."

Ging insisted that "aid integrity in a conflict zone is top priority" and said "one of our key demands of the Government and after a considerable discussion they agreed that we would have, from their perspective, all of the support that we needed to cross the conflict lines."

He said there was a need to "be present in more locations so that we can better again be on top of the humanitarian situation" as well as tackling bureaucratic issues that are "slowing down and hampering our operation."

His comments come ahead of the humanitarian pledging conference that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will chair in Kuwait on Wednesday. The conference seeks to raise $1.5 billion to assist civilians affected by the ongoing conflict over the next six months, including those inside the country as well as those taking refuge beyond its borders.

In addition to those uprooted by the conflict, at least 60,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in early 2011.

The particularly harsh winter has compounded the suffering of people in need, especially internally displaced persons living in shelters lacking adequate insulation with no winter clothes and no blankets. Lack of fuel and electricity has been a major challenge for those affected as well as for those trying to deliver vital humanitarian aid, according to OCHA.