The Third International Humanitarian Pledging Conference was held in Kuwait on 31 March, during which Valerie Amos, UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly about the difficulties in reaching Syrians displaced inside Syria and the Syrian refugees outside the country. There have been criticisms that humanitarian aid has been delaying the end of crises. Is this true in the context of Syria? What is delaying the solution is that there is no agreement amongst the key countries, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, about the political solution. In the absence of a political solution, the attention goes to the humanitarian situation as a means to find a way to help the Syrians. We have got three Security Council Resolutions. The first one was Resolution 2139, which was extremely extensive and speaks particularly about protecting civilians. But since this resolution was passed, there has been increasing savagery and violence. What are the obstacles to reach needy people inside Syria and deliver aid across borders? When the Security Council passed Resolution 2165, it enabled us to use four border crossing points, two from Turkey and one from Iraq which was eventually not used because of the security situation in Iraq, and one from Jordan. We saw an increase in what we can do across conflict lines inside Syria in order to get to difficult areas. However, the Syrian government was against this resolution. What we have seen since then has been that crossing lines have become increasingly difficult. We made a request for 33 agency convoys this year, including food, health and other things, and only three were approved. Our frustration is that the need is growing every day. The environment has become more difficult. There has been a proliferation of many groups, crossing points, roadblocks and ongoing fighting. The Syrian government insists on following new rules that every single request for humanitarian aid should go through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We cannot work directly with the Ministry of Social Affairs and other entities directly like before. The resolution is key to helping our work, especially the resolution of cross-border issues. Have you found ways to cut the bureaucracy and talk to Russia to help in this situation? We work with our Russian counterparts to help us to facilitate access and to reach difficult places. I do think it is important to recognise that there are limits to what the Syrian authorities are prepared to agree to, however. The Syrian government has stressed repeatedly the need to have its sovereignty respected. Member states of UN also have a responsibility to abide by the framework of international humanitarian law and international human rights law and the values of the UN Charter. The Syrian government says it wants to look after its own people, but we see it violates that every day. This is a government that drops barrel bombs on its own people. There are frustrations among Syrian refugees in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan about the aid because there are intermediaries between the UN and the Syrian refugees. How can the UN overcome these obstacles? Most people do not realise that most of the refugees are not in camps. In Jordan, 70 per cent of the refugees are in host communities and not in camps. This refugee presence has created problems between the communities and refugees. In Lebanon, a third of the population is made up of refugees. 25-30 per cent of the people in Lebanon are Syrian refugees. At this year's Pledging Conference we will put money aside for host communities who receive those refugees. We need to give support to governments in those hosting countries. We aim this year to raise $8.5 billion, $5.5 billion of which will be channelled through agencies to help the refugees. Another billion is to support governments, especially in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. We try to ensure that the aid goes to people. A lot of support now is through cash. People buy what they need from local shops to help the hosting communities' economies. Governments also are looking for support from the World Bank and others. In the camps, we get direct support through NGO partners. The frustration is that the need is huge and what we do is tiny. Last year, we raised 58 per cent of what we asked for. It is heart-breaking to see those in need suffer. 80 per cent of Syrian refugees are women and children, and this is a very difficult situation. Access to many areas is controlled by extremist groups. How can you access those areas, and will donors accept to help areas controlled by extremist groups? We have seen this situation in the last couple of years. It did not start with Daesh [Islamic State], as we saw it too with Alshabab in Somalia. On the policy level, we have done some research looking at the impact of donor policies with respect to terrorism and NGO work in those areas. We have tremendous difficulties to get money to Somalia. Donors are receptive to conversations about delivering aid to those zones, however. On the operations side, we have a number of UN agencies, NGO partners, and local contacts that work there. This is the case of IS-controlled areas, for example. There are some international and national NGOs that have built up contacts in those areas. But they were initially prevented from providing food aid and then education aid and some were ordered to leave, so it is getting harder and harder to work in those places. Could you highlight the humanitarian corridors discussions intending to ease the disaster inside Syria? We have had several discussions, such as on humanitarian corridors, safe zones, and no-fly zones. Through each concept we try to find a way to reach people safely or get them to safe areas. The difficulty is the need to create secure environments and to secure those you need to get people delivering aid safely or getting aid to safe areas. You need neutral teams on the ground to help deliver that. You need Security Council Resolutions that can enable neutrality to be defined. Defining who is neutral inside Syria is difficult. The last experience in this context was Libya. When the Security Council agreed on a no-fly zone, they subsequently disagreed on implementing it. This made some members of the Council cautious. It is not the concept but implementing it that is difficult. What do you expect from the Pledging Conference in terms of raising money for Syria? Fifty eight per cent of the pledges were fulfilled last year. A large part of this was raised at the Second Donor Conference. Last year, we tried to raise under $6 billion. We raised $3.4 billion, and the pledges of the Second Conference were $2.4 billion. Therefore, the conference has been a major contributor to our fundraising for Syria. We got $500 million from king Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. All the GCC countries made significant contributions to Gaza, Yemen, Sudan, Syria and other places. Should we settle refugees in places other than Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt because of problems in these hosting countries? The majority of refugees want to go back to Syria. But at the same time the crisis is ongoing, and there is no prospect for security and stability inside Syria. So we ask for settlement further away. We have the responsibility to help the Syrians. There are also efforts to settle Syrian refugees in European countries. I want my country, the UK, to take responsibility and I know there is a discussion about immigration in the lead-up to the coming elections, but European countries including the UK should take responsibility with regard to the Syrian refugees. What can you tell us about the situation of humanitarian aid in Yemen? I saw a report that the UN had left Yemen. This is not true. We have 700 staff that work there and deliver programmes there. The programmes in the east of the country continue. Our programmes will continue, and we will assess the current security situation and what more we can do there. You are passionate about your job, but sadly you are leaving after five years. What have been the positives you have got from the post, and will you carry on humanitarian aid in the future? I am not sure what I am going to do next. It is time to go. It is a job which I love, but it is consuming. My interest will continue in some form or another. The refugees I have met are inspiring. They have hope for their children. I met people who have little, but they have a belief in the work we do and this is humbling. I do not talk about “donor fatigue” because I have seen donors give more even in hard economic conditions, but it is still not enough because of increasing needs. The commitment and passion of humanitarian workers around the world is tremendous, many of whom have lost their lives in conflict zones. Despite the tragedy, you still remember the mothers desperate to protect their children.
