Valerie Amos: ‘I feel a sense of shame’

It is a time of almost unprecedented suffering. The UN is dealing with more people displaced, forced to flee from their homes, than at any time since the Second World War – in total more than 50 million people.

I feel a real sense of shame on behalf of the international community because we haven't done nearly enough.

by Valerie Amos, UN

The single worst tragedy is the Syrian crisis with a death toll of over 200,000.

According to the UN more than 12 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance after being forced to flee their homes due to the country’s ongoing civil war. Almost four million refugees have fled mainly to neighbouring countries.

Valerie Amos served as the UN’s undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator for almost five years.

She has been battling to get more aid into the country, but the UN has faced many challenges in delivering aid to the refugees.

She says: “I am staggered that we have watched this crisis [in Syria] descend in the way that it has over the years…. that we take it almost as a given that there are thousands of people that are facing siege inside Syria. That means they can’t leave the communities they are in, aid can’t get in, people are going hungry, some of them are starving, children are malnourished… What kind of world are we living in where we have actually watched that unfold before our very eyes?” 

As she was ending her time as the UN’s humanitarian chief, Amos sat down with Talk to Al Jazeera to discuss her frustration about the UN Security Council’s division on Syria, conflicts and humanitarian crises around the world, and the need to reform the international system.

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