As news breaks about airstrikes in Syria by the US and five Arab nations, World Vision warns the immediate humanitarian needs in the region will continue to grow.
World Vision is gravely concerned about the impact of the escalating Syrian crisis on a generation of children.
The humanitarian impact of the conflict has reached an unprecedented scale with an estimated 10.8 million people inside Syria desperately in need of assistance. More than half of those are children, with many under direct threat of violence in Syria according to World Vision.
The crisis in Syria and Iraq is expected to dominate discussions between world leaders who are gathered this week in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
World Vision is therefore calling for all parties to the conflict, supported by those states with influence over them, to urgently focus on ending the bloodshed and to take immediate steps to protect children and enable humanitarian access.
World Vision Australia’s Head of Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, Majella Hurney, said that protecting Syria’s children and their families should be high on the agenda of world leaders in New York this week.
“The international community needs to do more to protect the children of Syria. These children need to become a priority for world leaders, particularly those who are in a position to influence parties to the conflict,” Ms Hurney said.
Approximately 6.5 million children are now in need of assistance as a result of the Syrian conflict, and 1.5 million have become refugees. World Vision is working in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the Kurdish Region of Iraq, meeting the needs of hundreds of thousands of people and appealing for more funds to assist the most vulnerable.
World Vision Australia’s Chief Executive, Tim Costello, is available for interview from New York.
World Vision Australia’s Head of Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, Majella Hurney, is available for interview from Melbourne.
Media contact: Jessica Ciccotelli – 0402 971 225 – jessica.ciccotelli@worldvision.com.au