After a break of more than 2 weeks, UNRWA is able to distribute food to refugees in Yarmouk camp in Syria – SG’s Spokesperson’s noon briefing (excerpts)

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING
BY FARHAN HAQ, DEPUTY SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

WEDNESDAY, 19 MARCH 2014

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U.N. AGENCY DISTRIBUTES FOOD TO BESIEGED REFUGEES IN SYRIA’S YARMOUK CAMP

· After a break of more than two weeks, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has been able to get into Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus and distribute hundreds of food parcels to besieged civilians.

· The Agency says it has distributed 465 food parcels, but adds that this is not nearly enough for some 20,000 people there, which is why it is demanding secure, substantial and sustained access.

· Meanwhile, the image of crowds of Palestinians lining up for UN Relief and Works Agency food parcels, which has emerged as an icon of the Syria conflict, is to be displayed simultaneously on the massive electronic billboard in New York’s Times Square and its Asian equivalent in Tokyo’s Shibuya district.

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