Damascus/Aleteia (Aleteia.org/ar) – Five million children are in critical need of aid and humanitarian assistance in Syria, which is part of the 12 million people that are suffering under the same circumstances. The Syrian civil war has resulted in 7.6 million people being displaced from their homes and more than three million refugees who are currently in neighboring countries.
According to the United Nations, since 2011 the Syrian economy has suffered a precipitous decline of 40 percent, which has caused the unemployment rate to increase to 54 percent in the country. Three quarters of the population are living in poverty. The percentage of those who are attending school has declined by more than 50 percent. The number of people who have been killed or injured in Syria continues to increase, and children are those who are suffering the most from this violence. Every day more and more people are dying. Under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council, which provides access to humanitarian aid in those areas that have been hit the hardest, hundreds of thousands of people have received supplies. Unfortunately, those areas that are currently experiencing conflict pose a significant challenge to getting aid to those in need. Since the beginning of the conflict, more than 150,000 deaths and 680,000 injuries have been recorded.
This article was originally published by Aleteia’s Arabic edition. Translated byDonald Puhlman.
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