Deteriorating Conditions In Syria A Nightmare For Future Generations

From Ismail Amsyar Mohd Said KUWAIT CITY, Feb 4 (Bernama) -- When Valerie Amos first visited Syria nearly two years ago, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator estimated that one million people needed urgent humanitarian assistance. "That figure now stands at 9.3 million people in need, which is approximately the total population of Chad, Sweden or Bolivia, and nearly 6.5 million people have been internally displaced", said Amos at the Second International Pledging Conference, held here recently. According to her, laying siege has become a weapon of war, with thousands of people being blockaded in their communities and running out of supplies with no access to basic services. She claimed that opposition groups continue to besiege the towns of Nubul and Az-Zahraa in rural Aleppo, while government forces have besieged the town of Eastern Ghouta, Darayya and Moadamiyah in rural Damascus, the Old City in Homs, and Yarmouk’s Palestinian refugee camp. "I am deeply troubled by the persistent reports of people running out of food in those besieged communities, where some 245,000 people live. Children, women, and men are trapped, hungry, losing hope, and losing faith in the international community’s ability to help them", she noted. HOW IT ALL STARTED Syria's current crisis started with a string of revolutions that began in Tunisia after the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on Dec 17, 2010. Dubbed the ‘Arab Spring,’ the uprising then spilled over to the rest of the region, engulfing Egypt, Libya and Syria. The Syrian uprising did not wait long to join the Arab Spring Club when it kicked off in March 2011 and expanded nationwide by April of the same year. However, the expectations of the people that President Bashar Al-Assad will abdicate the throne are starting to drop as the crisis enters its third year, killing more people and displacing millions. According to Karam Shaar, a Syrian postgraduate student in Malaysia, the unrest started in Dara’a, located in the extreme south of Syria, after a group of teenaged boys scribbled a slogan that was used in Tunisia and Egypt, leading to their detention by the police. "People want to topple the regime... Now, it is your time, dear doctor", Shaar told Bernama, noting that before the Arab Spring, he and his friends had believed that the current regime, led by Bashar, must be terminated. He claimed that by the time the Arab Spring was in full force, even though the people knew the regime was very strong in terms of intelligence gathered by the ‘Mukhabarat’ (secret police), they were also aware that Tunisia had the highest ratio of police to civilians in the world. "Despite that advantage, the regime was toppled. After that, in Egypt, the existing regime was toppled. So, we were all delighted. All of us were waiting for something to happen and for someone to say, 'Go!' ", he said. He noted that after the teenaged boys were detained, riots and protests took place in Dara’a for 10 days before they were released. It was then discovered that the boys had been tortured by ripping off their nails. This was the ‘something’ they had been waiting for. AFTER THREE YEARS, HEALTH CONDITIONS PLUMMET Spokesperson of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO's) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Rana Sidani, in an interview with Bernama on the sidelines of the Second International Pledging Conference here, pointed out that the health situation in Syria is extremely challenging. "Sixty-four per cent of hospitals in Syria have either been completely destroyed or damaged, and 60 per cent of ambulances are no longer working. The production of local medicine has also stopped by 70 per cent", she stated. According to Sidani, many of the medical staff members of these institutions have fled the country seeking safety and security. She added that WHO participation in the conference aimed to shed light on the health crisis in Syria and to urge donors to help fund the organisation with US$187 million for 2014. "We are planning to use this money to continue the vaccination campaign against polio, which is currently underway. In addition, this money will be used to provide hospitals and medical centres with medical supplies and equipment", she said. United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF's) spokesperson Juliette S. Touma noted that the organisation is saddened by the re-emergence of polio in Syria, explaining that it is a viral disease that can affect the nerves, leading to partial or full paralysis. "For the past 14 years, polio had been eradicated. Now it’s here again, and it’s saddening to see the re-emergence of the disease, adding misery to the lives of the children", she told Bernama. According to Touma, in response to the threat of polio), a massive campaign has been launched by UNICEF to vaccinate 2.2 million children in Syria, and the organisation is now aiming to reach out to 23 million children across the region, noting that this is the largest campaign UNICEF has ever undertaken in this part of the world. "Polio is not a joke. If we see the emergence of polio in one location, it could spread, and we want to control it. That’s why we have made a quick, significant response; we want to vaccinate as many children as we can", she explained. HARDSHIPS FACED BY HUMANITARIAN NGOs Rana Sidani, meanwhile, claimed that the most severe challenge facing humanitarian organisations is hostility and limited access, noting that because of these factors, they have had to stop sending their convoys bearing medical supplies. "Recently, we were vaccinating the children against polio and had to stop when hostilities began in Raqaa, where we estimate that 100,000 children are in need of this polio vaccination. "Unfortunately, we are unable to reach them and are waiting for the hostilities to cease before we can send in our teams again", stated Sidani, whose expression spoke volumes of her disappointment and sadness at being unable to reach the children in need. She called on all parties involved in the Syrian conflict to reach a ceasefire for a few days to facilitate the vaccination campaign and enable the health workers and volunteers to reach out to the children in Syria. "Everyone knows how dangerous polio is. It’s an intelligent virus that is highly contagious; it doesn’t stop at political or geographical boundaries", she warned. -- BERNAMA