Overview
The Syrian conflict has been going on since 2011 between the Ba’athist Syrian Arab Republic and the political movement opposing the government. Due this war, considered the 2nd deadliest fight of the 21st century, more than 5 million Syrians have fled the country while about 6 million are internally displaced, and 13 million people are in need of humanitarian help. To accentuate the issue, more than half of the hospitals and infrastructures dedicated to health care have been damaged or destroyed, limiting the opportunities to assist the population.
The Arab Spring catalysed civil uprising in Syria to express discontent against the Sunni President Bashar al-Assad and call for his destitution. Al-Assad had offered hope for democratic reforms but failed to transform his words into actions, and refused to accept any form of political opposition, which he classified as jihadists and terrorist groups attacking his authority. During those years, Syria also suffered from rising socio-economic inequality and youth unemployment, which were not aided by a 6-year drought from 2006 to 2011. Human rights and freedom of expression were often repressed, worsening the populations’ situations. The mixture of such unfavourable conditions sparked a wave of protests in Syria that soon became an armed conflict involving foreign countries as well.
Since 2017, the United Nations Security Council has discussed the situation in Syria 33 times, issuing 23 resolutions on the conflict. Humanitarian efforts have been carried out by UNFPA and UNICEF to improve human rights and basic primary education. The United Nations and the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan provided financial support by donating $4.4 billion to neighbouring countries and communities. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also worked towards vaccinating a large fraction of children against polio and measles.
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