Armed conflicts driving millions to flee their homes have intensified over the last year and created an “unprecedented” refugee crisis that will require $16.4 billion to address next year, United Nations aid agencies warned Monday.
The humanitarian disaster in Syria continued to escalate this year, leaving the U.N. World Food Program with a $64 million shortfall that forced it to suspend a rationing program last week for 1.7 million of the displaced living in neighboring countries.
Syria, South Sudan, Iraq and the Central African Republic, all consumed by intractable battles, account for 70 percent of the relief demands placed on the international community, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in launching its appeal for 2015.
This year also saw new demands on the U.N. refugee agency from half a million Ukrainians forced to flee their homes as Russia-backed separatists fought government troops in a battle for territory in the country’s eastern regions.
“The rising scale of need is outpacing our capacity to respond,” Valerie Amos, U.N. undersecretary for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, said at a news conference in Geneva.
Worldwide, about 102 million people are in need of aid, with 57.5 million of them considered especially at risk in 22 countries, Amos said.
In addition to the most pressing aid needs, the appeal for funds covers planned relief for Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, the occupied Palestinian territories, Somalia and Yemen, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees reported.
The dire situation for Syrian refugees and millions more internally displaced by the nearly 4-year-old civil war prompted Amnesty International to appeal to the world’s wealthier countries to take in more of those who have been holed up in refugee camps in neighboring countries.
Five Middle East countries — Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt — host more than 98 percent of the 4 million Syrians who have fled their country to escape the bombardment and bloodletting, Amnesty International noted.
Amnesty reminded global powers of their obligations to share the burdens of humanitarian crises under the U.N. Charter and the 1951 Refugee Convention.
