“They have lost their families, lost their house, they lost hope. They are full of anger – I repeated this, they are full of anger, and if it continues, we will face a generation of illiterates,” Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, told journalists in New York.

The news conference is Ms. Zerrougui’s first since returning from a nearly month long visit to Syria and neighbouring Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, to see first-hand the impact of the conflict on children, to report, and to show those who are violating children’s rights that there is a professional system for gathering and assessing the credibility of information that would ultimately hold them accountable for breaking international laws, she said.

During her visit, the envoy met with Government officials and had contacts with members of opposition groups. She urged all parties in Syria to take urgent measures to protect children and other civilians, highlighting that the Government is on the UN’s “list of shame” for killing and maiming children, as well as attacking schools and hospitals, while the opposition has been enlisting recruits under the age of 18.

The list is used by the Security Council to indicate to the world those groups, individuals and Governments violating the rights of children and where they are active.

Zerrougui stressed that the list is a “tool that allows us to have influence,” and even if the perpetrators feel safe today, “we know by heart that those who commit violations will pay.”

She recalled visiting a local hospital, “You cannot imagine when you see a child without a leg, and he’s telling you, they will fix my leg and I will go to fight. And you see the brother that is lying on the bed that lost a kidney, that lost a pancreas, and you see the mother sitting there. That is the reality.”

In addition, the Special Representative also raised the issue of detention of underage recruits, predominantly with the Government. “I had a very fruitful discussion to say this is your responsibility. You cannot just consider that you are fighting terrorism, you have to also work with part of your population which is not happy that is not happy with how it is treated.”

Since fighting began in March 2011 between the Syrian Government and opposition groups seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad as many as 100,000 people have been killed, almost 2 million have fled to neighbouring countries and a further 4 million have been internally displaced.

Inside Syria, 6.8 million people require urgent humanitarian assistance, half of whom are children.

Among the main problems in the region as a result of the displacement of families is the disruption to schooling. While neighbouring countries have attempted to assist, Zerrougui said, problems continue as a result of curriculum, capacity and language.

In addition, refugees are faced with the problem of certification – who will give you the recognition that your schooling has value and you will have a degree, the Special Representative added.

Comparing the current situation in Syria with what Zerrougui experiences during her last visit in December, the Special Representative noted the increasing polarization of society between those who are against the Government and those who are for.

“There is no reward to be won in Syria,” the Special Representative stressed. “The Government today is feeling that they are winning. We need to work with them to let them understand that the only way to bring them together is to bring society together. And to understand that there is grievance and there is a need to move forward on a political agenda.”

The children were released to their families in the presence of senior Government officials as well as representatives from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Myanmar.

By the terms of an action plan signed with the UN last year, the Myanmar Government has agreed to locate all children recruited by the Tatmadaw with a view to ensuring their unconditional release, and committed to discharging and facilitating their quick reintegration back into their families and their communities.

“We expect the Tatmadaw will now be in a position to speed up the release of all children,” said UN Resident Coordinator Ashok Nigam. “We are very happy for the 42 children and their families today but we must accelerate efforts so that many more children benefit from release.”

The action plan also includes commitments to allow UN monitoring teams to access military facilities and to training military personnel on how to better protect, respect and promote the rights of Myanmar’s children.

“All parties recognize this is about the future of Myanmar. No child should have to endure the hardship of being taken away from their families, friends, schools and communities,” said Mr. Nigam.

“Nothing justifies the recruitment of children in armed forces. An army is not a place for a child to grow up. We will continue working with the Myanmar Government and the Tatmadaw towards expanding access for UN monitoring teams, addressing identified systemic procedural weaknesses, and mobilizing the Myanmar public in support of ending this practice for the sake of their children and the whole country,” he added.

The UN Resident Coordinator’s Office and UNICEF are the co-chairs of the UN Country Task Force charged with facilitating Myanmar’s implementation of Security Council resolution 1612 in the country together with representatives from other members of the Task Force.

Adopted in 2005, resolution 1612 asked the Secretary-General to establish a monitoring and reporting mechanism to provide timely and reliable information on six grave children’s rights violations, including the recruitment and use of children in armed forces and armed groups.

The six grave violations monitored and reported are: killing or maiming of children; recruitment and use of children in armed forces and groups; attacks against schools or hospitals; rape or other grave sexual violence; abduction of children; and denial of humanitarian access for children.

In his recent report to the Council on children and armed conflict in Myanmar, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the fact that, while children are still being recruited into the Tatmadaw following the signing of the action plan, the number of new recruits have decreased.

“Through today’s discharge and by moving away from recruiting new children, the Myanmar Government and its armed forces continue to demonstrate their desire to end this deeply saddening practice,” said UNICEF Representative Bertrand Bainvel.

“The action plan continues to be a unique opportunity to once and for all ensure that the Tatmadaw is a child-free armed force and is removed from the annex of the Secretary-General’s report, which lists parties to the conflict that recruit and use children,” Mr. Bainvel added.

The Tatmadaw (together with its integrated border guard forces) is listed in Annex 1 of the Secretary-General’s report, alongside seven other non-State armed groups that are persistent perpetrators in Myanmar.

Widespread flooding has occurred, swamping tents and overwhelming the drainage system in the Za’atari camp, with deep mud making it harder to drain the water and for water-removal trucks to access the camp, UNICEF noted in a news release.

Areas containing several so-called child friendly spaces – where children can play, learn and receive psychosocial support – have been flooded, and a tent used to shelter unaccompanied minors has collapsed.

“The next 72 hours will be a critical test of our ability to meet the basic needs of children and their families at Za’atari,” said the UNICEF Representative in Jordan, Dominique Hyde. “Alongside the Government of Jordan and our other partners, we are doing everything possible to ensure services are maintained and that children stay warm and dry.”

The deteriorating situation at the Za’atari camp comes amid a continuing influx of refugees from across the border, fleeing the violence in Syria, where more than 60,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in early 2011.

Recent months have witnessed an escalation in the conflict, which is now in its 23rd month. Since the beginning of January this year, close to 10,000 Syrians have sought safety in Jordan.

Mr. Hyde added that a lack of funding was a major constraint on relief activities.

“The resources we raised in 2012 have been exhausted, and no fresh funds have come for this year,” he said. “We urgently appeal to the international community and donors in general to commit fresh funding as soon as possible.”

UNICEF stated that it and its partners are working “around the clock” to sustain the provision of services to people in Za’atari camp, and in particular, to ensure that all refugees have access to water, latrines and showers.

The UN agency has distributed emergency warm clothing along with sleeping mats to replace mattresses soaked by the rain. Heaters have been distributed to families now living in prefabricated buildings within the camp.

In relation to funding for relief activities, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will chair a high-level conference later this month to raise funds to alleviate the worsening plight of millions of Syrians affected by the ongoing conflict.

The conference, to be held on 30 January in Kuwait, follows a $1.5 billion appealed launched in December by the United Nations and its partners, who have been hampered in their efforts to carry out relief activities due to lack of funds.

The bulk of the appeal – $1 billion – is to support refugees fleeing Syria to Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt. It is based on planning estimates that up to a million Syrian refugees will need help during the first half of 2013.

Another $519 million will be needed to support an estimated four million people inside Syria who need urgent humanitarian assistance, including an estimated two million internally displaced persons.

The camp is one of five sites that have swollen with new arrivals since the recent upsurge in violence in the region.

North Kivu province has been the site of relentless fighting for over a decade. Since April, the beginning of the current crisis, an estimated 500,000 people have been displaced in the province. Many of these families had already been displaced and were living in sites for displaced persons or with host families, only to be displaced yet again.

Febe Bushu and her family have been displaced twice. In September, they fled their home in Pinga, some 80 km northeast of Walikale in North Kivu. “We left Pinga because of the war. Everyone was fleeing,” she says. Constantly pushed south by fighting, the family walked for a full two weeks before they reached Goma, where they found temporary refuge with a host family.

Two weeks ago, she and her family had to leave again because food was too scarce. “The family had nothing at all, so we felt it was best to leave,” says Ms. Bushu. Today, the family live at Bulengo.

Most of the displaced population have left their homes or places of refuge quickly, with few belongings. Many have been forced to sleep in makeshift shelters. The improvised shelters provide little protection from the frequent, seasonal rain, especially during the night.

“Many still lack proper shelter to keep themselves dry and warm,” says UNICEF Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Barbara Bentein. “When children get wet and cannot change their clothes, they become more at risk of falling sick and suffering from infectious diseases such as pneumonia.”

Bulengo is one of the sites where displaced persons have found refuge around Goma. According to humanitarian coordinator for Oxfam in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Tariq Riebl, the residents of the camp are a mix of people from different areas affected by various factions involved in the conflict. “The needs are intense because all of them have fled conflict, and all of them have suffered from the trauma of having to move, often several times,” he says.

Ms. Bushu collects her relief kit. The relief kits contain 10 essential items, including plastic sheeting, blankets, sleeping mats, clothing, a wash basin, a jerry can, a kitchen set and soap. “The tarp will help cover my tent,” she says. “I’ll be protected from the sun and I won’t have to hear all the noise outside. Cooking pans also mean I can cook by, and that’s really important.

The mass distribution of relief kits to assist families like Ms. Bushu’s is the largest operation to be carried out in North Kivu in recent years. UNICEF has coordinated the operation, which has involved 13 local and international NGOs, as well as other United Nations agencies, including AIDES, AVSI, Care, Caritas Goma, Concern Worldwide, Handicap International, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam Great Britain, Première Urgence, Save the Children, Solidarités International, OCHA, UNHCR and UNOPS. The distribution has been made possible with support from donors including the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO), the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) and the Governments of Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Sweden.

On the ground, more than 210 staff have been steadily working to ensure that the families receive their kits before the Christmas holiday.

“People arrived in Bulengo two to three weeks ago,” says UNICEF Emergency Officer in Goma Ulrich Wagner. “Insecurity delayed the distribution. Now, we aim to be as quick as possible to get these kits to the families, as long as the security allows it.”

A calm has prevailed over the Christmas period, which allowed UNICEF and its partners to intervene swiftly, undertaking a census and registration of families in preparation for the distributions. All told, over 1,000 tonnes of supplies have simultaneously been distributed in multiple sites to more than 20,000 displaced families over the course of four days.

Carried out by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Syria’s Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform in June, the Joint Rapid Food Security Needs Assessment mission’s report stresses that out of the three million Syrians in need of assistance, 1.5 million are in urgent need of food aid over the next three to six months, especially in areas that have seen the greatest conflict and population displacement.

Syria has been wracked by violence, with more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 16 months ago. Over recent days, there have been reports of an escalation in violence in many towns and villages, as well as the country’s two biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo.

The joint mission’s report estimates that Syria’s agricultural sector has lost $1.8 billion as a result of the ongoing conflict. The crisis has led to damage to crops, livestock and irrigation systems. Basic crops such as wheat and barley have been badly affected, as well as cherry and olive trees and vegetable production.

“While the economic implications of these losses are quite grave, the humanitarian implications are far more pressing,” said WFP’s Representative in Syria, Muhannad Hadi. “The effects of these major losses are first, and most viciously, felt by the poorest in the country. Most of the vulnerable families the mission visited reported less income and more expenditure – their lives becoming more difficult by the day.”

The assessment mission’s report also notes that large numbers of rural people of Syria’s central, coastal, eastern, north-eastern and southern governorates were found to have totally or partially lost their farming assets and livestock-based livelihoods and businesses, due to the ongoing political crisis and insecurity, combined with a prolonged drought.

“The most vulnerable families in Syria depend entirely or partly on agriculture and farm animals for food and income. They need emergency support, like seeds, repairs to irrigation systems, animal feed and healthcare,” said the FAO Representative in Syria, Abdulla BinYehia. “If timely assistance is not provided, the livelihood system of these vulnerable people could simply collapse in a few months’ time. Winter is fast approaching and urgent action is needed before then.”

Living conditions for farmers have become increasingly difficult, according to the assessment mission, with farmers being forced to leave crops unattended due to unavailability of labour, rise in fuel costs, insecurity and power cuts affecting water supply, augmenting the risk of losing crops if assistance is not provided.

Close to one million people are in need of seeds, food for animals, fuel and repair of irrigations pumps, the assessment says, stressing that particular attention needs to be given to female-headed households, migrant workers and small farmers.

WFP’s Hadi said that during the assessment mission’s visit to Al Hassakeh governorate in the country’s north-east, “even the richest family in a village reported having food stock for only one more month.”

WFP announced that it would scale up its emergency operation for Syria, which began in October, to reach 850,000 people this month and access badly affected areas. However, the operation is still facing a funding shortfall of about $62 million out of an overall budget of $103 million.

Meanwhile, FAO, which has provided assistance to some 82,000 people since December, aims to reach 900,000 people in rural households over the next six months to ensure they can continue planting and keeping their livestock. A budget of $38 million will be required for this, the agency said.

Some 12,500 tons of wheat flour will be delivered over the next eight weeks, with the first shipment arriving today, and will feed about 687,000 people, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in a news release.

“The Palestine refugees we serve are grateful for this generous donation,” said UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, Filippo Grandi. “The need for this aid is clear with food insecurity currently threatening 60 per cent of Gazans.”

Five years ago, Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza for what it called security reasons after the Hamas group, which does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, ousted the Fatah movement from the Gaza Strip in 2007.

Since the tightening of the Israeli blockade, unemployment has skyrocketed in the territory, as imports, exports, and job opportunities have slowed or come to a complete halt. Currently, 34 per cent of Gazans are unemployed and 70 per cent of refugees are reliant on UNRWA aid, the agency said.

In addition to in-kind contributions of food, Turkey also provides financial support to UNRWA. Since 2009, the Turkish Government has more than doubled its contribution to the agency, reaching an annual sum of $1.25 million this year. Turkey also chairs the Working Group on the Financing of UNRWA in New York, and is a member of the Advisory Commission comprising UNRWA’s major governmental supporters.

Established in 1949, UNRWA provides assistance, protection and advocacy for some five million registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territory, pending a solution to their plight.

Violence continues to rage in Syria’s most populous city, Aleppo, with local organizations registering each day about 300 displaced families in need of urgent assistance, a UNHCR spokesperson, Melissa Fleming, told reporters in Geneva.

“In the 32 schools identified, between 250 and 350 people were packed inside while some 7,000 people are taking refuge in university dormitories,” she said.

UNHCR’s Aleppo office is severely constrained by insecurity but is continuing to liaise with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and other organisation to identify the needs of the most affected, said Fleming.

The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are estimating that some 200,000 people fled Aleppo and the surrounding areas over the weekend, she added.

Meanwhile, UNHCR’s office in the Syrian capital, Damascus, is operating at 50 per cent of its capacity due to restrictions imposed by the security environment.

“The office is conducting limited visits to affected areas in and around Damascus. Nine hotlines dedicated to take calls from the refugee population are operating and continue to be a key source of information gathering and dissemination in terms of protection concerns and access to services,” said Fleming.

“Many callers are reporting a lack of safety; fear of ongoing shelling; lack of access to food, water and sanitation, especially in areas such as Sayyeda Zainab and families unable to leave the violent areas who are requesting help to assist in relocation,” she added.

Also, non-Iraqi foreigners without documents telephone saying they are unable to relocate and express fears of physical harm and being targeted.

More than 70,000 people from Syria have sought formal protection in Turkey since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 17 months ago, according to UNHCR. This includes growing numbers of people from Aleppo – reportedly more than 2,000 in the last four days.

As of 26 July, 44,188 people are currently being assisted by the Government of Turkey, which is managing eight camps for displaced people in four different provinces.

The Jordanian Government estimates that some 150,000 Syrian refugees have entered the Kingdom since March last year, with 38,883 of them receiving protection and assistance, while the rest are not registered.

Fleming noted that, as the outflow from Syria continues, Jordan opened a new camp in record time on Sunday to ease pressures on border sites hosting thousands of Syrian refugees.

There are 34,096 displaced Syrians receiving protection and assistance in Lebanon through the efforts of the Government, the UN and non-governmental partners, of which 31,596 are registered. In Iraq, the number of Syrian refugees, mainly Kurdish, continues to increase, with some 12,073 currently registered.