HIGHLIGHTS
The conflict continued unabated. Some 220,000 people are estimated to have been killed and over a million have been injured since 2011.
Humanitarian action continued to take place in a context of increased conflict and insecurity. Of the 77 humanitarian workers killed since the beginning of the conflict, 10 have been killed since 1 January 2015.
An estimated 540,000 people have been newly displaced by fighting since 1 January, including many who were already displaced. In parallel, an additional 700,000 people have sought refuge in neighboring countries and Africa, bringing the total number of Syrian refugees to nearly 4 million.
Against this backdrop, while delivery of lifesaving and life-sustaining humanitarian assistance across sectors is on track four months into the year, United Nations agencies and implementing partners have managed to reach less than 1 per cent of the 422,000 people living in besieged areas and only 5.2 per cent of the 4.8 million people in need in hard-to-reach areas, indicating major access challenges which limit the humanitarian community’s ability to reach the most vulnerable and affected people in Syria. Out of the 4.8 million in hard-to-reach, an estimated 2.7 million people in need live in ISIL-controlled areas, where humanitarian access continued to decline.
In light of sustained violations of IHL and HRL by all parties, protection of civilians remains a central and paramount concern, including attacks against schools and hospitals. Despite numerous security and other challenges, 578,104 people, were able to access protection services in the first four months of the year, including through community protection and resilience initiatives covering, inter alia, child protection, psychosocial support and counselling. Tireless efforts are being undertaken to ensure that protection services are accessible to as many people needing such services as possible.
Despite the urgent need to address growing needs and vulnerabilities and anchor Syrians at home by promoting resilience, revitalizing livelihood and shoring up basic services, such as health, education, nutrition and access to water, sanitation and shelter, insufficient funding has hampered humanitarian outreach.
