UNICEF running out of money for humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees

Apr 9 2013

"The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) [on Friday] warned that it may be forced to stop humanitarian assistance to more than 100,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan due to insufficient funds," the U.N. News Centre reports. "Donors have so far contributed $12 million to UNICEF against an appeal of $57 million for its operation in Jordan this year," the news service notes (4/5). "The needs are rising exponentially and we are broke," UNICEF spokesperson Marixie Mercado said, according to BBC News. "Around 385,500 have escaped to Jordan, with figures set to triple by the end of the year, Ms. Mercado said," the news agency writes, noting she added many of the refugees are children (4/5).

"The impact of funding drying up would include a halt in 3.5 million liters of daily water deliveries to Jordan's Za'atari camp, which houses more than 100,000 refugees, mostly children," Reuters reports, adding, "While the humanitarian agencies [working in the region] have so far managed to prevent major health problems among the refugees, policing the huge and growing population is becoming more difficult" (Miles, 4/5). Al Jazeera notes that UNICEF also "runs an immunization campaign for the increasing number of internally-displaced people that provides life-saving measles and polio vaccinations to three million children" (4/6).