Syria

Donor pledges must end hunger in Syria

May 11, 2022

In reaction to the pledges made today at the Brussels conference on Syria, Oxfam in Syria Country Director, Moutaz Adham, said:

“The pledges made today are welcomed and show that the international community has not forgotten Syrians.

“However, donor’s priorities do not reflect the situation in Syria. For over a decade, there has been too much focus on emergency aid with limited focus on long term solutions to problems like lack of food and water. What the Syrian people need is schools and hospitals, homes that can stand and are cleared of rubble and old bombs, and jobs, so they can feed their families and stop relying on aid. Humanitarian agencies haven’t been able to provide for the long term needs of Syrians due to political considerations. These politics are denying Syrians a future and causing more Syrians to mire in poverty.

“Syrians have never been so hungry – 3 in 5 people do not know where their next meal will come from. One month’s living costs equals two months’ salary. The war in Ukraine will only increase hunger and poverty.

“Last year, donors only gave half the money needed to help people in Syria. Syrians cannot afford for this to happen yet again this year. Donors need to think long-term. Short-term solutions are not good enough.”

Notes to the editors

Read Oxfam’s media briefing on the Ukraine crisis: How and why it could cause hunger crises globally to worsen which includes a case-study on Syria.
Read Oxfam in Syria’s recent press release “Before we feared dying of war, now we fear dying of hunger”: Ukraine crisis propelling hunger in Syria.
Last year’s Humanitarian Response Plan, aimed at providing critical assistance to people in need in Syria was only 46 percent funded.
Oxfam is working in Syria and with Syrians in neighbouring countries and the communities hosting them since 2013. We make sure people have clean water, distribute cash so people can put food on the table and buy life-saving medicine, and support farmers to start farming again by giving out seeds and doing trainings and bakers to start baking again through rehabilitating old bakeries.

“Before we feared dying of war, now we fear dying of hunger”: Ukraine crisis propelling hunger in Syria

March 15, 2022

Eleven years after the Syrian conflict began, six in ten Syrians do not know where their next meal is coming from, said Oxfam today. It warned that reliance on imports from Russia means the current crisis in Europe could ripple into Syria, exacerbating food shortages and causing food prices to soar. In the last year, food prices in Syria have doubled.

Oxfam spoke to 300 Syrians in government-held areas of the country. Nearly 90 percent said they could only afford to eat bread, rice and, occasionally, some vegetables. After ten years of conflict, the shockwaves of Covid-19, and the Lebanese banking crisis coupled with the Ukrainian crisis are having serious repercussions for the floundering economy, disrupting food and fuel imports and causing the Syrian pound to plummet at breakneck speed.

Moutaz Adham, Country Director for Oxfam in Syria, said: “People have been pushed to the brink by a collapsing economy. Around Damascus, people queue for hours to get subsidised bread at state bakeries, while young children rifle through garbage trying to find scraps of food. Struggling to put food on the table means many families are turning to extreme ways to cope: going into debt to buy food, taking children out of school to work and reducing the number of meals each day. Marrying off young daughters has become another negative coping strategy as it is one less mouth to feed. This is against a backdrop of 90 percent of Syrians living in poverty, unemployment rate at 60 percent and a monthly minimum wage in the public sector of approximately 26 US dollars.”

He added: “Syria relies heavily on Russia for imports of wheat. The crisis in Ukraine has seen the Syrian government starting to ration food reserves, including wheat, sugar, oil, and rice amid fears of shortages and price surges, and this could be just the beginning.”

Hala from Deir-ez-Zor told Oxfam: “It makes no sense for us to think about tomorrow, if we cannot even figure out what to put on our table today to feed our children.”

Majed from Rural Damascus told Oxfam: “I work 13 hours a day to feed my children, but it doesn’t seem to be enough. Sometimes I wish there is more than 24 hours a day, so I can do more work. I’m exhausted and don’t know how I will survive this harsh life with my family.”

Moutaz Adham added: “An average income only covers half of basic expenses.”

Notes:

Oxfam has been working in Syria since 2013 to provide humanitarian assistance to those affected by the conflict. In the last year, Oxfam’s work reached 1.2 million people. We provide clean drinking water to people, emergency cash assistance, and soap, hygiene and other materials. We help farmers get back to farming, and bakers back to baking. We run Covid-19 awareness raising campaigns. Oxfam is calling on international donors to focus on funding early recovery and social protection while also keep focusing on emergency needs and responses, including hunger response activities to save lives now.

12.4 million people in Syria are food insecure, child labour occurs in 84% of communities and child marriage for adolescent girls in 71% of communities, according to the latest figures from the Humanitarian Needs Overview.

The price of the World Food Program (WFP) standard food basket (a group of essential food items) has increased by 97% in the past year.

Last year, the Syrian government reportedly had to import 1.5 million tons of wheat, mainly from Russia.

As part of its Emergency and Food Security response, Oxfam interviewed 300 beneficiaries in government held areas of Aleppo, Deir-ez-Zor and Rural Damascus governorates, 100 beneficiaries in each governorate and found that 88 percent eat only bread, rice and occasionally vegetables. Additionally, 60 percent of people Oxfam spoke to say they earn less than what they need to cover their food needs. 10 percent said they rely only on bread and tea to survive. Since subsidised bread provides approximately 840 kcal per day, this amounts to only 40 percent of calories needed to survive (an average family of 5 can buy 12 bundles of subsidised bread, each consisting of 7 loaves, this leaves 2.4 loaves per person per day, having no more than 350 kcal). Strikingly, only 1.5 percent said they can afford to buy meat and only on rare occasions.

Contact details:

David Bull | Oxfam Aotearoa | David.bull@oxfam.org.nz | mobile +64 274179724

Syria marks 10 years of conflict

March 17, 2021

Are Syria’s broken people being forgotten after 10 years of conflict?

Ten years on, the Syrian conflict continues to cause misery for the millions who have fled and those who are still trapped inside the country. Along with the Council for International Development, 12 New Zealand aid agencies are thankful for caring Kiwis who have supported their work among Syrian refugees and for New Zealand Government funding but are urging the government to remember those who continue to suffer.

In February, the UN reported a funding gap of 9.81 billion US dollars to meet the needs of suffering Syrians. This shows the scale of the continuing humanitarian need and the economic cost of 10 years of conflict in Syria has been put at 1.2 trillion USD. At $US19.4 billion, humanitarian aid to Syria over that time has been just 1.6 per cent of that amount.

New Zealand aid agencies are grateful for the New Zealand Government funding they received that supported their work among refugees up until May 2017. However, with no diplomatic end in sight for the devastated country, New Zealand aid agencies are asking the New Zealand Government not to abandon the people of Syria and release more much-needed funding so that they can carry on supporting Syrian refugees.

CEO of Tearfund NZ, Ian McInnes says, “On the 10th year of Syria’s war, we collectively urge the New Zealand Government and the International Community to continue investing in long-term solutions for Syrian children so that the past decade does not define their future. Aid remains a lifeline for all war-affected Syrians who are still struggling to access critical services including health, nutrition, education and protection.”

National Director of World Vision NZ, Grant Bayldon says, “As the war has gone on, the suffering of the people has increasingly been forgotten. As funds have dried up, so has the help that many Syrian families need to make it through.”

Executive Director of Oxfam NZ, Rachael Le Mesurier says, “With the ongoing impact of Covid-19, escalating climate change and a global economic recession, aid agencies face some tough decisions but this is not the time to lose focus on Syria. We urge the New Zealand Government to renew its efforts to influence world leaders to find a political solution that could bring this conflict to an end and make further financial aid available to New Zealand aid agencies to help Syrian families and communities traumatised by ten years of war.”

CEO of UNICEF NZ, Michelle Sharp says, the decade-long war in Syria has had an unimaginable toll on children. “Today, more than six million children need assistance, half a million are chronically malnourished, and in the last year alone, the reported number of children in psychological distress has doubled. Every child has the right to safety and we must urgently reimagine a better world for Syrian children.”

CEO of Save the Children NZ, Heidi Coetzee, says the children of Syrian are paying the ultimate price of this deadly and prolonged conflict. We call on political leaders to urgently bring about a peaceful resolution to this conflict that has gone on 10 years too long.

Key Stats

Over 5.5 million Syrians live as refugees in the region. More than six million Syrians are displaced within the country.
Approximately one in four people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee. (About 1.5m refugees)
More than half of Syria’s infrastructure has been destroyed
Though Syria accounts for less than one per cent of the world’s population, its people make up nearly one-third of refugees worldwide.
Approximately 50 per cent of all registered Syrian refugees are under the age of 18 and millions have grown up knowing nothing but conflict.

Covid-19 cases (15-03-2021)

Syria: 16,401 cases 1094 deaths
Lebanon: 415,000, cases 5,334 deaths

The 12 Council for International Development affiliated aid agencies are: ADRA, Anglican Missions, Caritas, CBM, CWS, Hagar, International Needs, Oxfam, Save the Children NZ, Tearfund, UNICEF and World Vision.

/ Ends

Media Contacts:
Helen Manson
helen@tearfund.org.nz
022 5861567

Gabriel Thomas
Gabriel.Thomas@worldvision.org.nz
+6421360098

Two Oxfam workers killed in attack in Syria

February 20, 2020

Oxfam condemns killing two of its workers in attack in Syria

Two Oxfam aid workers were today killed in an attack at 2pm local time in Dar’a governorate in Southern Syria, between Nawa and Al-Yadudah.

Wissam Hazim, Southern Hub Staff Safety Officer and Adel Al-Halabi, a driver, were both killed when their vehicle was attacked by a so-far unidentified armed group. An Oxfam volunteer was also injured.

Oxfam paid tribute to the workers, condemned the attack and called on all sides to ensure the safety of staff delivering lifesaving aid to civilians caught in the conflict.

Moutaz Adham, Oxfam Syria Country Director, said: “We are devastated by the loss of two valued colleagues who were killed as they worked to deliver aid to civilians caught in the Syrian conflict. Our love and thoughts are with their families.

“We condemn the attack in the strongest possible terms. It is essential that aid workers are able to get lifesaving assistance to civilians without being attacked themselves.”

Notes to editors:

Wissam Hazim had worked for Oxfam since May 2017. Adel Al-Halabi joined Oxfam in January 2017. Both were Syrian nationals.
Last year Oxfam in Syria helped over 1.2million people with aid including clean water, cash, essential clothing items, and support to help make a living and grow nutritious food.

Syria Crisis

The Largest refugee crisis of our time.

Imagine fleeing your home to escape the violence and horrors of war in Syria and having to rebuild your life in a refugee camp. Once there, you experience the impact of coronavirus in cramped living conditions and must provide for your family during an economic crisis, and now, you must deal with the aftermath and devastation of the Beirut port blast explosion. What would you do? You face a crisis within a crisis.

In Lebanon, Syrian refugees need your immediate help to rebuild their lives and livelihoods. Life in a refugee camp is incredibly difficult. They are already struggling with an economic crisis and long-term food and income insecurity.

Alongside local partners, Oxfam is focusing on those most at risk by providing helping to provide access to life-saving supplies such as safe clean water, hygiene kits and showers. safe sanitation.

Now, more than ever, Syrian refugees need your help. Please Give Now.

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Oxfam helps Syrians to find safety without risking their lives at sea

April 27, 2017

Oxfam has joined a program to help Syrians find refuge in Europe. 60 people, including many families, will arrive in Italy today to seek asylum as part of a humanitarian visa programme approved by the Italian government. The people will be hosted by Oxfam in the Italian region of Tuscany for the duration of their asylum process.