UN deputy relief chief calls for greater protection, aid for Syrians

The UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Kyung-wha Kang, on Monday called for greater protection and assistance for Syrians caught up in the Middle East country's four-year conflict.

"The violence and destruction is relentless, exacting a terrible toll on women and girls, men and boys," Kang said after a five-day visit to Jordan and Turkey, where she talked with Syrian refugee families.

"Parties to the conflict show little regard for the basic norms of warfare," she said.

More than 4 million Syrians have fled across borders to seek shelter, while over 6.5 million others who are internally displaced have had to struggle to survive under extremely dire conditions, UN figures show.

"Ms. Kang expressed appreciation for the generosity and hospitality of the Turkish and Jordanian authorities and their people, while urging them to keep the borders open for families fleeing the conflict," Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, told a daily news briefing here.

She expressed concern over the fate of refugees stranded at the border between Jordan and Syria, but conveyed the hope that a swift solution can be found as winter approaches, through the close collaboration forged between the Jordanian government and the United Nations, Haq said.

In Turkey, Kang spoke with aid organizations that had temporarily suspended operations due to airstrikes along routes where relief operations were ongoing, Haq said.

Airstrikes are taking place where civilian infrastructure has already been severely damaged. In particular, health facilities have been routinely hit by aerial bombing, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Enditem