Mr. Ros O'Sullivan:

On behalf of Concern, I thank the committee for its invitation to make a presentation on the humanitarian impact of the Syrian crisis and for taking the time to focus on this critical issue. We in Concern recognise that almost all of recent discussion on Syria has been about chemical weapons use and what to do about it or about the threat of international military intervention. This distracts from the humanitarian situation so we welcome the opportunity to highlight the plight of the Syrian people and bring greater focus to humanitarian needs inside Syria and in neighbouring countries.

This is a highly charged, highly complex, highly politicised and hugely complicated context. For humanitarian agencies working on the ground in the country, such as ourselves, it is a matter of having to feel our way through this in a very slow, considered and measured way in order to overcome the issues relating to sustained access, build acceptance of our presence and programmes and work with very high levels of insecurity. Concern is working in both Syria and Lebanon in response to the crisis, providing shelter and WASH - water and sanitation assistance - to refugees in northern Lebanon. The primary focus of our current work inside Syria is to provide a broad WASH programme to reach people at risk of disease.

I recently returned from a month in the region and have seen at first hand the impact this conflict is having on the Syrian population. In Lebanon, the number of refugees is heading for the 1 million mark, in a country that has a similar population to Ireland but with only a fraction of the size. Can members imagine what it would be like for a million people to come here out of desperation and need? This is leading to increasing tensions between Syrian refugees and their Lebanese hosting communities because of the pressure the increased population is placing on available housing options. The lack of suitable shelter options has reached crisis point in Lebanon, with more new arrivals and increasing incidents of evictions of those already in place. Increased incidents of cross-border shelling into north Lebanon is putting both Lebanese and refugee families at increased risk. While obviously indiscriminate in whom it affects, the shelling appears to be targeting areas of high displacement. This is happening too often to be considered accidental or stray and is impeding access to affected populations.

On 13 September, six bombs fell around the small village of Fraidis in northern Lebanon, which is barely a mile from the Syrian border. Its former school, the Fraidis collective centre, is now home to ten Syrian families. After the attack, the ten families living in Fraidis were asked to leave. Those living in the old school building are being relocated to another collective centre away from the border. One of them, Josianne, spoke of what had happened:

We do not feel safe any more. We hate it when night comes because of the shells. Because of the shelling the host communities say the refugees are a target and they would like them to leave. We are also afraid of something else. The people in the village came by a couple of times to tell us to leave. They don't want Syrian people in their village and they are saying it is because of our stay that shells are being thrown at them.

Inside Syria, the indiscriminate nature of the conflict and the climate of fear that exists after nearly three years of fighting - fear of aerial bombardment, fear of car bombings, fear of being lifted from one's home at night by one group or another - has led to a mass exodus and the almost total economic ruin of the country. This has resulted in more than 10% of the population fleeing the country and becoming refugees in neighbouring countries. The current estimate is such refugees is 2.1 million refugees. More than double that number, or 4.5 million internally displaced persons, IDPs, are taking to the road and becoming internally displaced inside Syria.

Another case study is that of Ibrahim and Nour, a brother and sister who have recently arrived at a refugee camp in Turkey. Ibrahim spoke of their experience, saying:

We don't know if we'll be alive from one day to the next or whether I will be kidnapped or arrested. The most important thing for me is to feel safe. This fear is not just my fear but also a fear for everyone living in Syria. No one knows if there will be shelling or bombing - it is complicated. There is no sense of security no matter where you go. My sister and I have moved three times in the last year and finally we just had to leave Syria.

Syrians are finding it increasingly difficult to feed and house their families in safety. Another case study is of Fatima, a mother, and her cousin Ahmed. Fatima reported:

Life is very difficult here. My husband had a good job but now sells cigarettes on the road side. I work at a border kitchen. They give me breakfast, lunch and dinner for my family. Another woman minds my children and baby while I work. We also get one and a half loaves of bread a day from a local NGO. We are grateful for this but this is not enough. If we don't get the supplement food from the kitchen I work in we couldn't survive.

Much of the infrastructure is either destroyed or damaged and is not functioning, not even at minimum level.

I refer to industry, electricity, water, health care and education. Much of that infrastructure is concentrated in cities and towns, that is, the areas which have borne the brunt of sustained bombardment for more than two years. The situation is deteriorating daily and winter is coming, for the third time since the conflict began, bringing with it additional hardship as people have fewer means for coping at their disposal. In many parts of the country workers are not getting paid and the fabric of society is breaking down. Yet many of these people are still showing up for work and trying to carry on with fewer and fewer resources and an infrastructure that is barely functioning.

What is normal inside Syria today is barely tolerable for its people. We have seen a doubling of the number of refugees since January this year, with every reason to believe their numbers will double again if the situation remains unresolved. For the huge displaced population inside Syria, conditions are appalling. The UN has described the situation there as the greatest crisis of the last 30 years, a crisis from which the country will take years, if not decades, to recover. As it draws in neighbouring countries, the conflict poses a very real danger of escalating beyond Syria's borders into a much broader regional conflict.

There are clear actions that must be taken to address the situation. First and foremost, we must have more intensive efforts to find a durable political and diplomatic end to the conflict. In that regard, we welcome the efforts of the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Eamon Gilmore, and his engagement with the UN on this issue. We hope that all possible pressure will be brought to bear to ensure the Geneva II talks go ahead as scheduled at the end of November. Those talks must be inclusive, bringing together all parties and all influences. Having just some of the multitude of movements and groups represented will not in itself bring about an end to hostilities. Neighbouring countries affected by the crisis must also be represented and involved, including Israel and Iran. The $4.5 billion appeal for Syria is only 50% funded to date and more resources must be made available to provide timely and appropriate humanitarian assistance both inside Syria and in neighbouring countries. I have highlighted some of the issues facing refugees in Lebanon. There is an additional need to lobby the Lebanese Government to rethink its objections to large-scale formal camps given that the other options are fully saturated and exhausted.