Temitope Adeogun
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, has disclosed that more than 3 million Syrians are now registered as refugees and the security crisis is only getting worse.
The UNHCR said Syria is now “the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era with almost half of all Syrians forced to flee their homes.The majority of refugees have fled to countries neighboring Syria, with most now seeking shelter in Lebanon.
“Almost half of all Syrians have now been forced to abandon their homes and flee for their lives. One in every eight Syrians has fled across the border, fully a million people more than a year ago. A further 6.5 million are displaced within Syria. Over half of those uprooted are children.”
Opposition groups in Syria have been fighting forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad since his government violently suppressed protests against his rule in March 2011.
The situation has been worsened in recent months by the formation and advance of the Islamic State group, which now controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq.
UNHCR is working with 150 other agencies and groups, together with the governments of neighbouring countries, to help refugees pay the rent, and get food, education and medical care, as well as giving basic goods such as tents, mattresses and plastic sheets.
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