Responding to the desperate situation in Syria

Syrian refugees in northern Iraq DEC member Christian Aid is working through partners to provide help. Photo: Christian Aid / Sarah Malian

As the news has developed over the last 2 years from the increasingly bitter civil war in Syria, it is easy to get caught up in the rights and wrongs of the warring parties. And now as Obama and Putin play politics at the start of the G20, the news seems to be more about who was sitting next to who in opulent grandeur rather than the reality of everyday life on the ground.

Whichever side of the fence you are on in Syria itself, the daily situation is dangerous and getting worse. More than 6 million people have left their homes and 2 million of them have crossed the border into surrounding countries. With ever growing camps in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, the humanitarian disaster multiples by the day.

The broadcast news narrative seems stuck in analysing who is on whose side and who we should be supporting, yet the reality on the ground is that millions are living on the brink of starvation and the risk of disease. We think we should all act now to support those working on the ground to make life better and safer for the innocent men, women and children caught up in the tragedy.

From today, for the next month, we will be encouraging all our customers to make a small donation towards the Disaster Emergency Committee Syria appeal. And this weekend for every order placed on Ethical Superstore we will donate another £1 to the appeal.

May we keep in mind over the coming days the terrible plight of those caught up in this man-made disaster and do what we can to make things a little better.