The Red Cross calls on the international community to find new approaches and long-term solutions to the Syrian crisis

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, urged the international community to find new approaches and long-term solutions to the Syrian crisis.

Maurer said - in a statement distributed by the committee in Geneva after he finished a five-day visit to Syria, where he visited the capital, Damascus, in addition to Daraya and Hasaka - that Al-Hol camp is the place where hope dies and represents one of the biggest child protection crises facing the ICRC. .

Maurer explained that it is a scandal that the international community allows such a place to continue, and that this situation is not due to an intractable humanitarian problem but because of political differences, which prevent finding a permanent solution for those stranded in northeastern Syria, and that the international community must cooperate to find practical solutions for the citizens. More than 60 countries are in Al-Hol, including tens of thousands of Iraqis and Syrians.

The ICRC statement said that of the estimated 62,000 people in the sprawling camp, two-thirds are children, many of whom are orphaned or have been separated from their families, as they grow up in harsh and often dangerous conditions.

The committee urged all countries to assume responsibility for their citizens in Al-Hol and northeastern Syria and to make all efforts to legally return them to the homeland while respecting family unity and supporting full reintegration.

The statement pointed out that during Maurer's visit, the focus was on the devastating economic losses of the conflict, as millions of other Syrians have been pushed into poverty and hunger since the beginning of the epidemic last year, and it is estimated that about 60% of the population cannot find or buy enough food. Every day, in addition to the destruction of vital services, millions of people do not have access to clean water or electricity, that half of all health facilities are out of service or only partially functioning, and millions of children are out of school.

Maurer said that the accumulation of economic problems in Syria, the impact of the war, the Corona virus, and the collapse of the economy of neighboring Lebanon, all of this doubled to become a very large and dangerous crisis in Syria, and that more than 80% of the population slid into poverty over the past two months and years.

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross noted that the issue is not related to the existence of a political gap around reconstruction, but rather to finding practical solutions in the areas of water, sanitation, education, health, basic electricity and basic income for people.