SYRIA / AMOS

STORY: SYRIA / AMOS
TRT: 3.17
SOURCE: UNSMIS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 16 AUGUST 2012, DAMASCUS, SYRIA

SHOTLIST:

RECENT 2012, HOTEL EXCELSIOR, DAMASCUS, SYRIA

1. Tilt up, Excelsior Hotel

16 AUGUST 2012, DAMASCUS, SYRIA

2. Wide Shot, USG Valerie Amos approaches podium
3. Cutaway, cameraman
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“Over a million people have been uprooted and face destitution. Perhaps a million more have urgent humanitarian needs due to the widening impact of the crisis on the economy and people's livelihoods."
5. Cutaway, cameraman
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“"Back in March, we estimated that a million people were in need of help. Now as many as 2.5 million are in need of assistance and we are working to update our plans and funding requirements."
7. Cutaway, cameraman
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
"Their needs for health care, shelter, food, water and sanitation are growing,"
9. Cutaway, press briefing
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“The UN and its partners are reaching more people with emergency aid every month. But we are only meeting some of the needs. Its not enough. Insecurity and restrictions are part of the problem. But funding too is holding us back there is more that we could be doing right now in areas that are safe enough and where we have established solid partnerships with NGOs and with the Syrian Arab Crescent.”
11. Cutaway, press briefing
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“The Government has a concern that assistance will reach, in their terms, armed groups and terrorists. This as raised with me in every single conversation that I had with the government minister and there is a concern that international NGOs will be part of that process. I have assured Ministers that this is not how the international NGOs-humanitarian community works. I will continue to emphasize that point, but at the moment the government is prepared to have international NGOs that are already operating in the country, expand their operation but to have anybody new.”
13. Cutaway, press briefing
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“In terms of us as Humanitarian workers being able to get everywhere, of course insecurity remains one of the issues that we have to deal with. The situation is changing almost on a daily basis and this is something that we have to be very conscious of but separate to that I have discussed with colleagues in the different UN agencies and also with our NGO partners. They are ready able to do more. We need the agreement of the Syrian authorities in terms of those organizations being able to move out and established decentralized offices.”
17. Cutaway, cameraman
18. Wide shot, Amos leaves


STORYLINE:

The United Nations (UN) Emergency Relief Coordinator said today (16 August) in Syria that as many as 2.5 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance.

Addressing journalists at a press conference in Damascus Valerie Amos who arrived to the country on Tuesday (14 August) to see for herself the impact of the intensifying conflict and to discuss with the government ways to increase humanitarian assistance, Amos said that over a million people had been uprooted and faced destitution.

She noted that “perhaps a million more have urgent humanitarian needs due to the widening impact of the crisis on the economy and people's livelihoods."

The humanitarian agency had estimated back in march that a million people were in need of help but today Amos said that “as many as 2.5 million are in need of assistance and we are working to update our plans and funding requirements."

During her visit Amos visited displaced persons in Damascus and An Nabk., while noting that those families she met were tired, anxious and many had no prospect of going home Amos said that, “their needs for health care, shelter, food, water and sanitation are growing.”

She said that the UN and its partners were reaching more people with emergency aid every month. But although some of the needs were being met, Amos said that “its not enough”. She pointed insecurity and restrictions as part of the problem.

Amos had been lobbying with the Syrian government to be more flexible in its approach to humanitarian operations, but she said that the Government had fears that assistance would reach armed groups and “terrorists”. She said that, “I have assured Ministers that this is not how the international NGOs-humanitarian community works. I will continue to emphasize that point, but at the moment the government is prepared to have international NGOs that are already operating in the country, expand their operation but to have anybody new.”

In terms of Humanitarian workers being able to access people everywhere, Amos said, “we need the agreement of the Syrian authorities in terms of those organizations being able to move out and established decentralized offices.”

Syria has been wracked by violence, with an estimated 17,000 people, mostly civilians, killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 17 months ago. Over the past fortnight, there have been reports of an escalation in violence in many towns and villages, as well as the country’s two biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo.