UN emergency relief coordinator says he expects tens of thousands more deaths after ‘worst event in 100 years in this region’
More from Sky’s interview with the UK’s Andrew Mitchell.
On the subject of the UK’s aid to Syria, which was halved from around £180m in 2020 to £90m in 2021, Mitchell defended the cut, adding that the aid budget will increase once the economy improves.
It will go back up to 0.7% when the two fiscal tests that were set down by Rishi and confirmed by parliament are met. I can’t tell you precisely when that will be because it’s not clear how quickly the economy is going to recover,” he says.
The economy has suffered significantly from Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine and also, of course, from the aftermath of Covid. So I can’t give you an answer to that.
It is in Syria that the international community is far more stretched. We were able to get through the one crossing that is open for the UN, but that crossing too was badly damaged in the earthquake and because of the Russian veto the UN cannot use the other three crossing out of Turkey into Syria. So it is in Syria where the real problems lie.”