The European Union has responded to the recent global appeal for urgent food donations for Syria, made by the World Food Programme and quickly reinforced by David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee.
In an official release on the website of the IRC, Miliband said the arrival of the first snow fall in the middle east shows that "Syrians are on the road to hell."
The release by the IRC said ongoing Surveys had shown the price of bread has risen by up to 500%, with four in five Syrians worried food is running out". The IRC survey has so far covered more than 500 communities in Syria.
In a swift response, EU President José Manuel Barroso today signed contracts totalling €147 with several United Nations Agencies to deliver humanitarian aid to Syria and tweeted "W/ @KGeorgievaEU signing contracts totalling €147 mn w/ UN agencies to deliver humanitarian aid to people of Syria".
Earlier, David Miliband said the findings showed that starvation is now threatening large parts of the Syrian population and "with polio on the loose, and a sub-zero winter already here, the people of Syria now face months of more death and despair. We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe that is receiving far too little attention and funding around the world.”
The IRC President wrote “Today’s new UN appeal is critical, with the current appeals only 68 percent funded and more than nine million Syrians in need of aid. Agencies delivering aid require immediate safe access to civilians, across borders and conflict lines, which is why the IRC is calling for a humanitarian resolution to be passed at the UN Security Council.”
Also writing for the Evening Standard on Monday 16 December, 2013, the IRC President said "Syria gives whole new meaning to the phrase “neighbour from hell”. Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq are all dealing with the fallout from the Syria crisis, with millions of refugees desperate for help."
In an interview with Bloomberg TV's "Charlie Rose", on Tuesday December 17, 2013 Miliband said he was concerned with problems around the world, not just in Syria. He said 17 countries in Africa are also in need of help, just as Afghanista also needs help and keeps asking himself the question "what are we doing to make a difference in these places?".
Miliband said 2.5 million syrians are displaced and many people are scattered and are in urgent need for help and "we got to care about them and see their problem as our problem".
He said 6bn might be small but it represented the easy part because of the organisational arrangement required to have food urgently delivered regions where they are needed.
Insisting that Syria is the defining humanitarian crisis, so far of the century and the international community are failing the test set for them.
When asked to define the issue, he said "the issue is that we have a war in which neither side is respecting the rules of war and so civilians are being targeted inside syria."
When asked whether he thought the January 22, 2014 UN sponsored peace Confrence would happen, he said he seriously doubted it would happen, not least because the French Minister who is trying to make this happen is also doubting it would, but also because the two warring sides think they can win, but have no idea of how and the.
Miliband said whatever happens in Geneva in January, the Syria conference must be able to bring a semblance of order to the rule of ware "because we are going back to the dark ages, if pregnant women are targeted and aid workers like the IRC are blocked or prevented from getting into areas where help is needed, making delivery of medical aids difficult."
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