“That’s an extra $8.6 billion to raise by the end of the year,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos said from Geneva as she gave a snapshot of the Organization’s mid-year humanitarian assessment.

Calling 2013 an “extraordinary year,” Ms. Amos, who is also the UN Emergency Coordinator, stressed that millions of people around the world desperately need help feeding their families, treating malnourished children and getting safe drinking water and other essential supplies. “We need to support them.”

At least $4.4 billion of the budgeted need is for crisis-riven Syria where some 5,000 people are being killed every month. According to the UN, the two-year conflict has also sparked the worst refugee crisis for 20 years, with an average of 6,000 people a day fleeing the country in 2013.

Addressing the UN Security Council yesterday in New York flanked by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, and Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic, Ms. Amos said the conflict in Syria is a regional crisis with regional consequences, requiring sustained and comprehensive international engagement.

In addition to Syria, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which Ms. Amos heads, and its partners are working to help people in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Sudan and Yemen, among others.

More than $5 billion has been provided for humanitarian organizations in 24 countries so far this year, Ms. Amos said.

While the situation worsened in some countries, the scale and severity of need has “eased a little” in others, such as Kenya, Mauritania and South Sudan, for which funding plans have been revised accordingly.

These consolidated appeals are used by some 620 UN agencies and non-governmental partners to plan their responses and monitor the situation and impact of their work, Ms. Amos noted.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 30,000 people fled their homes over the weekend, coinciding with the declaration of a state of emergency by the Government and the beginning of a French air operation in support of the Malian army, bringing the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to over 200,000.

“The degradation of the sanitation, shelter, health and food security conditions which has been observed over the last nine months in the North is likely to be aggravated as the number of IDPs increases,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva.

Northern Mali was occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels, after which the country underwent a military coup d’état, in March.

The renewed fighting comes at a time when OCHA estimates that 4.2 million Malians will need humanitarian assistance this year. These include some 2 million food insecure people and hundreds of thousands of malnourished children.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stressed that it is becoming increasingly difficult to access areas in the North as fighting continues. In Bamako, the capital, many families are struggling to make ends meet as the security situation deteriorates.

“Many families live in small rooms in bad conditions with no electricity or direct access to water. They generally lack space to accommodate all family members. The needs for money, food and shelter are huge,” said UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards, adding that the agency is in the process of working with partners on income-generating activities to ameliorate the situation.

UNCHR is also assisting Malians who have left their country for neighbouring Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania by providing clean water, sanitation and hygiene structures, healthcare and education.

“Refugees are telling us they fled the ongoing military intervention, the absence of subsistence opportunities and basic services, and the imposition of Sharia Law,” Mr. Edwards said. He added that UNHCR remains short of funds for the Mali crisis with only $77.4 million received of the $123 million sought to help refugees and IDPs in 2012. For 2013, the agency anticipates needs at a further $195.6 million.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that chronic problems of food insecurity and malnutrition in the country will only be worsened by the conflict. The agency has so far managed to move emergency food to 270,000 conflict-affected people in the North, including 70,000 IDPs. However, it states that persistent insecurity is severely limiting its work.

WFP spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs added that the agency would continue to monitor the situation and work closely with its partners to reach more than 400,000 crisis-affected people in the cities of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal, which have been some of the most affected areas.

As the number of displaced people increased, there is also a growing concern for children as they are at high risk of being separated from their families and are more vulnerable to many forms of abuse, including military recruitment and sexual violence, noted the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

“A major concern is of children being used in the fighting,” said UNICEF spokesperson Marixie Mercado. “Children were often used in the first wave of fighting, which significantly raised the risk of injury and death.”

In addition to humanitarian concerns, there is also a need to protect the country’s cultural sites, which have previously been attacked during the fighting. The Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, today launched an appeal to all military forces in Mali “to make every effort to protect the cultural heritage of the country, which has already been severely damaged.”

In anticipation of military operations, Ms. Bokova mobilized the agency’s Emergency Fund to protect the four sites in Mali that are inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Efforts include developing preventive measures and the training of armed forces on the prevention of illicit trafficking.

UNESCO has already provided the topographic features relative to the location of sites to the concerned military staff, as well as information for soldiers to prevent damage to cultural heritage. The information has been shared with police and aid workers.

“Mali’s cultural heritage is a jewel whose protection is important for the whole of humanity. This is our common heritage, nothing can justify damaging it. It carries the identity and values of a people,” Ms. Bokova said.

“The destruction of World Heritage sites in Mali in 2012, especially the mausoleums in Timbuktu, sparked a wave of indignation across the world, helping to raise awareness of the critical situation facing the Malian people. The current military intervention must protect people and secure the cultural heritage of Mali,” she added.

The United Nations refugee agency stands ready to send emergency aid packages to families in previously inaccessible areas of Syria if a proposed four-day ceasefire goes ahead this week during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

“We and our partners want to be in a position to move quickly if security allows it,” said the representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the country, Tarik Kurdi. “There are areas around Aleppo, Idlib, Al Raqqa and Homs we have been unable to reach with humanitarian aid for some time. If there is a window of opportunity here, we will be ready to move.”

While in Tehran last week, the UN and League of Arab States Joint Special Representative for the crisis in Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, had appealed to Iranian authorities to assist in achieving a ceasefire during Eid al-Adha (the Feast of the Sacrifice), one of the holiest holidays celebrated by Muslims around the world which commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God.

On Thursday, the head spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban said the UN chief welcomed the reported announcements of warring parties in Syria agreeing to observe the ceasefire.

“It’s important that all sides will adhere to this,” Martin Nesirky told in a news briefing at UN Headquarters in New York. “We all understand that there is a lack of trust between parties, but the hope is that guns will fall silent for the people of Syria, so that they have peace and quiet during this holy holiday.”

Should the guns fall silent, should there be a suspension of violence, then humanitarian workers are ready to move in, convoys are ready to go, stated Mr. Nesirky.

UNHCR said in a news release that 550 tons of supplies are being made available for distribution to up to 13,000 affected families, for a total of about 65,000 people. In Aleppo, one of the cities most affected by the violence, the agency has already pre-positioned 5,000 emergency family kits. Emergency kits will also be made available in the Al Raqqa governorate and areas south of Hassakeh over the weekend.

UNHCR, which currently has more than 350 staff in three offices across Syria, said it has been working closely with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and other partners to provide aid. It has also been carrying out an emergency cash assistance programme for displaced people.

“Despite the immense security challenges, the United Nations and humanitarian partners have managed to scale up and reach areas where people need help, including food for 1.5 million people in September and health assistance to 60,000 people including emergency care for the wounded,” said the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos.

More than 20,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in Syria since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 20 months ago. A further 2.5 million Syrians urgently need humanitarian aid, and over 340,000 have crossed the border to Syria’s neighbouring countries, according to UN estimates.

The report, produced by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), states that out of the 435,000 displaced persons, nearly 262,000 have registered with the UN as refugees in neighbouring countries including Niger, Burkina Faso and Algeria, while some 174,000 are internally displaced in the northern towns of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal.

In January, fighting between Government forces and Tuareg rebels broke out in northern Mali. The instability and insecurity resulting from the renewed clashes, as well as the proliferation of armed groups in the region and political instability in the wake of a military coup d’état in March, have led to massive displacement.

Mali is also located in the Sahel region, a semi-arid belt crossing the north of Africa, which exposes it to a risk of famine. The conflict, coupled with food insecurity, has led to a complex humanitarian emergency, the report states.

The report warns that refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) are in urgent need of food, shelter and water, and warns that the food security situation is deteriorating in the country as a plague of locusts in northern Mali is now spreading and is threatening agricultural production.

In addition, the report, which was released yesterday, notes that health conditions are also a cause for concern as 140 cholera cases, including 11 deaths, have been reported in the Gao and Ansongo districts in the northern part of the country.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that some 4.6 million people are now in need of food assistance. So far, the World Food programme has reached 360,000 people in southern Mali, and over 148,000 people in the north, according to the report. To address this issue, the food relief agency is also organizing activities which include reforestation, prevention of erosion and desertification and soil restoration that will help people achieve longer-term food security.

Earlier this month, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, had called for more funds to assist Malian refugees. So far, donors have provided $95.3 million to respond to the crisis of the $213 million required.