Nearly 700,000 Syrians displaced thus far in 2018: UN

12, Apr 2018 | CJP Team

Panos Moumtzis, the United Nations’ Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, issued a statement this week, saying he was “deeply concerned about the continuing massive displacement of close to 700,000 Syrians since the beginning of the year due to ongoing hostilities in the country.” He said that this figure adds to the 6.5 million Syrians who are already internally displaced, as well as the more than 5.6 million Syrian refugees residing in neighbouring nations. Moumtzis noted that more than half of Syria’s population has been displaced, and requires “humanitarian and protection assistance.” Moumtzis said that there have been “attacks on residential areas” as well as “civilian infrastructure” such as schools, markets and hospitals. Moumtzis described these attacks as “unacceptable,” and called on parties involved in the conflict to “respect and protect medical facilities and personnel” as per international law. According to Moumtzis, “The level of attacks on health facilities, workers and infrastructure in the first three months of 2018 was three times the rate seen in 2017.”