The activities proposed hereafter are still subject to the adoption of the financing decision ECHO/WWD/ BUD/2015/01000
AMOUNT: EUR 100 000 000
- CONTEXT
The Syrian conflict is having a devastating and lasting impact on Syria and across the region.
With the conflict entering its fourth year, the needs of the affected populations, including 10,8 million people inside the country (UNOCHA, June 2014) and over 3 million refugees (UNHCR, August 2014), as well as overstretched host communities in neighboring countries, are of an unprecedented scale. The number of conflict-related deaths has surpassed 191 000 individuals and an estimated one million have been war-wounded.
ECHO's Integrated Analysis Framework (IAF) for 2014-15 identified extreme humanitarian needs in Syria and high humanitarian needs in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.
During the last year fighting has escalated along and across shifting frontlines between opposition and governmental forces. In one year, the number of people displaced has increased 6-fold (6.5 million people), the number of people in need of humanitarian aid by more than two and the number of refugees in neighborhood countries by three.
The situation in Syria is expected to deteriorate further as there are no immediate prospects for a military or political solution to the conflict, and all sides still have significant capacity to resist and inflict damage. The international community has yet to find a way forward after the breakdown of the Geneva II process. The assumption is that violence and instability will continue to prevail. The growing involvement of extremist and foreign non-state actors in the fighting in Syria poses a threat to stability in the region and beyond. The prospect of an international military coalition against the specific threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria in Iraq also risks worsening the plight of civilian populations caught in the crossfire. The rapidly changing dynamics of the conflict within a frame of substantial international military operation will render access of humanitarian aid more complex and challenging.
The response to population’s needs has been hindered by the sharp deterioration of the security environment, the systematic obstruction of the Syrian authorities, and the growing number of armed opposition groups which impose serious difficulties to aid agencies and at times prevent aid from reaching civilian populations. More than ever, all available options must be explored to support principled humanitarian operations everywhere inside Syria.