Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 24th, 2014

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), our study on the situation in Syria will commence today.

I want to thank our witnesses for being here today. From the Canadian Red Cross we have Conrad Sauvé, who is the chief executive officer.

Welcome, sir. We're glad to have you back at the committee.

We have Hossam Elsharkawi who is the director of emergencies and recovery for international operations, also with the Canadian Red Cross. We also have Robert Young, senior delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Thank you and welcome to all of you from the Red Cross.

From CARE Canada we have Jessie Thomson, director of the humanitarian assistance and emergency team.

Mr. Sauvé, we're going to start with your opening statement and then we'll go to Ms. Thomson.

[Conrad Sauvé, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Red Cross]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all of the committee members for inviting me here today.

As you have introduced my colleagues, I will go straight to my presentation.

I think it is quite timely that this committee is meeting to talk about Syria today given that, as you know, over the weekend the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2139 calling for additional access for humanitarian workers in Syria.

We welcome the agreement among the UN Security Council members and the unanimous adoption of the resolution, which we hope will facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people who are bearing the brunt of the humanitarian situation. In particular we welcome the UN Secretary-General's recognition of the critical role of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, as he indicated in his Security Council meeting.

I'm sure the members are aware, but this is just a little footnote on the Red Cross movement. There is a lot of reference to the Red Cross movement. There are essentially three components of the Red Cross movement. There are 189 national societies of the Red Cross or Red Crescent. The Red Crescent is the Red Cross in many of the Muslim countries, but not exclusively as some do adopt the Red Cross. There is the international federation of these national societies, and there is the International Committee of the Red Cross. So this is the Red Cross family.

I have three main points I would like to leave you with today. First is the critical role played by a national Red Cross society, and, in this case, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. It is of fundamental importance that we not only fund their operations but also support their institutional development so they are able to effectively respond to the crisis and emergencies, within Syria in this case.

Second is the critical humanitarian consequence of conflict, including the inability of civilians to access humanitarian assistance, as well as the need for access and the protection of humanitarian work.

Third is the work of the Red Cross movement as a whole in Syria and in neighbouring countries, which is currently our largest operation globally.

I'd like to start by providing some observations from my time in the Middle East and my meetings with leaders of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. The situation, of course, for people within Syria and for Syrian refugees is very, very serious. I can only imagine the suffering that has continued through these past winter months. In Lebanon there is little infrastructure to receive refugees. Syrians have been living in makeshift dwellings without proper sanitation systems or basic hygiene. As no new camps are being built in Lebanon, the situation for people is extremely precarious. Given its lack of basic structures, I felt almost as though I was visiting an area that had just been devastated by an earthquake. In some cases it looked similar to Haiti after the earthquake in terms of the conditions of people living there.

In Jordan and Turkey the situation was more livable for refugees as camps are being constructed and services are being provided. The Turkish Red Crescent has provided comprehensive support to Syrian refugees including relief, shelter, sanitation, and hygiene promotion to those camps and elsewhere. However, make no mistake that the medium- to long-term perspective is bleak. The possibilities of returning home or moving elsewhere for refugees are extremely limited.

At the core of the Red Cross are the mandate and responsibility to protect and assist victims of conflict. Hostilities can escalate without warning, and in the face of such unpredictable emergencies, the Red Cross attaches great importance to its ability to respond rapidly. This does not happen overnight. Our ability to respond quickly to crises such as the one in Syria is the result of many years of work and investment.

The conflict raging in Syria is one of the most violent in recent memory. Virtually the entire population suffers as a direct consequence of the conflict in one way or another. In violence-stricken areas, the breakdown of essential services such as electricity, water supply, and garbage collection and the destruction of health facilities have added to the misery. Many people struggle to make it through the day because of intense fighting and a severely weakened economy, and they are completely dependent on the generosity of fellow Syrians or on humanitarian aid.

Three years into the crisis, the situation is grim. While bullets and mortars have devastating effects on individuals and infrastructure, they also leave behind institutional failure, the knock-on effects of which are tremendous. To the point, public services have broken down under the pressure of large-scale displacements, and vast sections of the population have no access to suitable health care.

Not only are the wounded not being cared for properly, vaccination rates have dropped, and the chronically ill are not receiving the necessary treatments and medicines that are extremely scarce.

The long-term consequences are predictable: rising rates of mortality, the re-emergence of certain diseases, and permanent disability for tens of thousands. Food production is down, prices continue to rise, and more and more people are coming to depend on emergency food aid. People's ability to make a living, personal resources, and coping mechanisms have been depleted. Millions of displaced people are living in temporary shelters, and children have stopped going to school.

The extraordinary fact is that in the midst of this crisis, the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement is reaching close to 3.5 million people each month. This is only possible because of the presence of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, an organization that has built and continues to support an effective network of volunteers who are risking their lives to deliver humanitarian assistance to civilians on a daily basis. In this sense SARC is a telling story of local resilience that all national Red Cross organizations tell in this case. It's about Syrians helping Syrians.

However the tragic reality is that even in these heroic efforts, the majority of humanitarian needs in Syria are not being met. There are as many as 9.5 million people desperately in need in Syria right now. Clearly the humanitarian situation is worsening. Aid efforts need to be expanded to reach beyond the internally displaced population and there are growing needs among civilians who are still in their homes but without any means of support.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent itself was created in 1942. In the last decade alone, they have provided humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees. They are a very capable, well-respected humanitarian organization that is being tested every day by a civil war that has been raging in their country for three years. To date one of the more touching statistics regarding the Syrian Arab Red Crescent is that over 34 of their volunteers and staff have been killed in the conflict in providing humanitarian assistance. So you see the challenge there about access. This is within Syria, this is the main organization delivering aid in Syria, but that has been doing it at a very heavy risk. The ability to carry out its work is due to the fact that it's a strong national society to begin with and it's often said that the Red Cross is quick to respond. But the reality is that the response capacity is directly linked to the ability to invest in building local resilient institutions and not only funding emergency operations. And this kind of advanced planning and investment makes us able to mobilize quickly in an emergency situation, be it a flood, an earthquake, or in the case of Syria, a conflict of unprecedented consequences.

Our capacity to ramp up quickly in emergencies is contingent on our partnerships and investments. A significant challenge is associated with the provision of this aid, and I will elaborate on this shortly. Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers continue to provide urgent assistance to those affected by the conflict and in need, including distributions on behalf of the UN agencies. So the Syrian Arab Red Crescent is the main distribution group of the Red Cross movement of course, but also for the UN agencies as well. In more concrete terms, this aid translates to, among other things, food assistance to 3.5 million people per month, essential household items to over 2.2 million people, and water and sanitation to 20 million people. Additionally, thanks to the contribution from the Canadian government and Canadian donors, Canada has supported effective humanitarian action through the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement. We've also deployed several international humanitarian workers to assist in their effort.

However much more help is needed to meet the vastly unmet humanitarian needs. The reality is that the effectiveness of our response in Syria is under constant threat, owing to the complexity of the context and shifting political and social dynamics. Because of the way the movement works, we're able to operate across front lines, with both government forces and various armed opposition groups in Syria. The Red Cross movement has access, but not at all times because of constraints such as intensified fighting in urban and rural areas, the deteriorating security situation, and the growing number of administrative and bureaucratic obstacles.

I've talked about the importance of the Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers, staff, and other humanitarian workers. It's critical that they have unimpeded and immediate access to those in need and that medical and humanitarian personnel, facilities, and transport are respected and protected.

Support for the neutral and impartial delivery of humanitarian aid on the ground is essential and the Canadian Red Cross would also like to acknowledge the Government of Canada for calling on all parties to the conflict to provide to provide full, safe, and unhindered access for humanitarian actors.

Let me now briefly turn to the situation in neighbouring countries, which also have been affected by this conflict. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has been providing much-needed support in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Turkey. The humanitarian crisis in Syria is increasing the fragility of these states. It is important that humanitarian operations continue to be funded but also that the local humanitarian institutions be reinforced by providing core investments. These institutions can help provide a minimum of stability through the delivery of neutral and impartial aid to those who are most in need.

This is basically the same point I'm making with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. The Lebanese Red Cross is a strong institution in Lebanon as well. Again, it's important that we support their core capacity, not just the capacity in humanitarian conflict. I've talked about the 34 Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers and staff killed. They were killed while they were under the protection of the Red Crescent, which gives them protection under international humanitarian law. This is the difficult choice in terms of providing humanitarian aid, and they have to make the critical decision before going into or accessing a city where their staff or volunteers may be shot at or killed. Notwithstanding that, they continue to recruit hundreds of volunteers every day in Syria. This is an important institution at this present time in Syria but it will be an important institution after the conflict as well.

In order to expand and to continue our work, first we call for the protection of humanitarian workers, staff, and volunteers and access to humanitarian assistance for civilians of the conflict and the war. We ask you to continue to provide financial support to the Red Cross movement so we can continue this vital humanitarian effort. On this note, it's important to remain flexible as the situation remains extremely fluid. As we commit dollars to these efforts we need to be reminded all the time that the situation can change quite rapidly. Although the needs remain the same, the place where that need might be required could change.

I want to thank you again for this opportunity to speak to you.

I look forward to your questions.

My colleagues and I are ready to answer.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you, Mr. Sauvé.

I'd like to turn it over to Ms. Thomson.

[Jessie Thomson, Director, Humanitarian Assistance and Emergency Team, CARE Canada]

I'd like to thank you, Mr. Chair, and the distinguished members of the committee, for the invitation to speak to you today about the situation in Syria and in the region.

I am going to make my presentation in English, but I can answer questions in French.

I returned from Lebanon and Jordan on the weekend so the situation is very fresh in mind, and I'll speak to some of the key issues that I observed during my visit as well as some of the issues we've been monitoring over the last three years.

As Conrad noted, currently some 9.5 million people inside Syria are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, and some 2.4 million more refugees are now displaced into neighbouring countries. Over 130,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed since the start of the conflict with millions more deprived of basic services, livelihoods, safety, and security. The Syrian crisis represents the largest and most devastating humanitarian crisis of its kind in recent years with refugee numbers surpassing those at the peak of the Rwandan genocide. In the face of these staggering numbers we have a collective duty to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs of those affected.

CARE is a non-governmental organization working across humanitarian assistance, recovery, and development in 80 countries with a focus on women's empowerment and gender equality. CARE's response to the Syria crisis has reached more than 356,000 beneficiaries in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, and Yemen. We're focusing on supporting both host communities and refugees living in urban and rural areas, by providing cash assistance, water hygiene and sanitation support, shelter, food aid, and psychosocial assistance.

Last year, CARE, along with other members of Canada's Humanitarian Coalition, launched a joint appeal that raised approximately half a million dollars. While Canadians who responded to our appeal were very generous, the number of Canadians who made donations was significantly lower than what we see in cases of crises caused by natural disasters. Experience has taught us to expect this discrepancy but it means that the responsibility for financing the humanitarian response will continue to lie heavily on government. To date, CARE has benefited from the generous support of the Government of Canada in support of our operations in the region for a total of $5.2 million, and we are incredibly grateful for this support that allows us to respond to the refugee needs in the region.

I'll speak to three key issues for your urgent attention, and they are: first, the situation of refugees in urban areas and their host communities; second, the importance of self-reliance and livelihoods for Syrian refugees; and third, the specific needs of women and girls affected by this crisis.

To begin, an estimated 83% of Syrian refugees are currently living outside of refugee camps, dispersed across cities and smaller communities throughout the region and mostly living in host communities. In Lebanon, more than 800,000 refugees are now registered with the UNHCR. With a total population of some four million people, this represents a huge number of refugees and is placing important pressure on basic services, schools, rental accommodation, and even the local economy.

In neighbouring Jordan, they now host close to 600,000 registered refugees, representing 10% of the total population. In some areas, refugees represent as much as 50% of the local community. For example, last week I was in Mafraq in northern Jordan where CARE is providing urgent humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees and their host communities with Government of Canada support. CARE staff told me that the city had a population of 85,000 people before the crisis and now hosts more than 85,000 refugees. As you can imagine, this is causing rent to skyrocket. It's putting pressure on local schools, water, sewage, waste management, and even on low-skilled jobs in the informal economy. Many schools are now reporting class sizes of 50 students per class even where schools have introduced a second shift for Syrian refugees.

Recognizing this important dynamic, CARE is not only providing humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees, but is also supporting host communities in Jordan and Lebanon. In Jordan, some 30% of our programming targets vulnerable Jordanians from the host community who are also impacted by this emergency. Continued funding in support of humanitarian efforts assisting both refugees and their host communities will be fundamental to ensuring Syrians continue to have access to asylum and protection in the region.

Second, life-saving humanitarian assistance for Syrian refugees continues to be urgently needed with only 13% of the regional refugee response plan funded to date. This has left significant unmet needs across the region.

We must recognize that this crisis is protracted and that refugees are unlikely to be able to return home in safety and with dignity in the near future. To this end we must continue to ensure sufficient funding is made available to meet the urgent needs of the most vulnerable with continued support for NGOs, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and UN agencies.

During my recent visit to Lebanon and Jordan, I met countless families who had lost everything. One mother told me that when they left Syria they thought they would only be in Jordan for a few weeks. Now, two years later, she says she's not sure if she'll ever be able to go home. She's depleted all of her savings, and without a source of income her family is unable to meet their basic needs from one day to the next.

Many families indicated that they're sending young children between the ages of 12 and 16 into the streets in search of informal work in the informal economy in order to meet household needs. With some 65% of children out of school in Jordan alone, the conflict is in the process of compromising the future and prosperity of an entire generation.

Recognizing these challenges, CARE believes that we must ensure that our interventions are increasingly focused on promoting livelihoods, education, and training. The goal is to empower those affected by the crisis and ensure that families continue to develop and maintain skills while in exile to prepare them for solutions, be it voluntary return, be it resettlement to third countries like Canada, or be it local integration where they currently live. This will need to take place alongside programs to address the concerns of host communities regarding the impact of refugees on the local labour market and the local economy.

Finally, I'd like to speak to the specific needs of women and girls affected by this crisis who are often at particular risk due to family separation, lack of basic structural and social protections, and limited availability of safe access to services.

There is a tendency to think that once a woman has crossed a border she is now safe. However, women often face a different kind of violence once they become refugees. CARE has noted with particular concern that families are reporting an increase in the early marriage of girls, which is being used as a coping mechanism by families with the hope of better protecting girls in the absence of male family members, or with the view to lessening the financial burden on the household.

Families are also increasingly keeping girls out of school due to the perceived risks involved in travelling to school and the need for girls to help with household duties at home.

Single female-headed households reportedly struggle to find rental accommodation as landlords are reluctant to rent to an unaccompanied woman because she is perceived to be unable to pay the rent.

Other refugee women have indicated that with increasing financial pressure, unemployment, lack of livelihood opportunities, and pressure on male heads of family, they are facing increased intimate partner violence at home.

In addition, women and girls have specific needs that are not always well addressed by traditional humanitarian assistance. With the view to meeting these specific needs of women and girls, CARE is distributing hygiene kits to women and girls, which include sanitary materials and diapers for babies under the age of two.

During my recent visit, I met women who were collecting these kits, often with a newborn baby on their hip and a small child in tow. They emphasized how important diapers were, as they can be an unaffordable luxury under the current circumstances.

To conclude, as the third-year anniversary of the Syrian conflict approaches, we must recognize that this is a protracted crisis and we need to start thinking about durable solutions for refugees, for their host communities, and for those trapped inside Syria. No one organization can meet the massive needs alone. We will need to work together as NGOs, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, donors, host governments, and UN agencies if we're going to be able to meet the basic and urgent needs of the rising number of refugees.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

All right, we're going to start our first round, which will be seven minutes for questions and answers with Madame Laverdière.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank all of you for this very interesting presentation.

We knew the issues and the enormity of the challenges, but it seems to me that every time we talk about this, we are made more aware of the scope of the needs of the refugees, but also of the communities that welcome them.

My first question may seem a bit naive to you. It is addressed to both of you.

Of course, we must have the capacity to offer different programs and take steps, but if more money were available, what would you do with it?

[Conrad Sauvé]

Thank you for your question.

You are correct in saying that this situation is extremely difficult. As I said in my presentation, the needs are great and there are additional ones. Concretely, the Syrian Red Crescent has asked us for $23 million to feed some 50,000 families. That is an additional request. It is very concrete. There is a crying need.

To reply to your question, I would say that indeed, we can distribute more money.

[Jessie Thomson]

It is the same for us. We always find it hard to meet all of the needs. CARE launched a campaign to gather $100 million. We have received 25% of that money. There are still needs to be met.

However, we see that funding is diminishing a little, generally. We are a little bit afraid, because when the refugees will have spent all of their savings and have really depleted all of their means of survival, they will be in a truly difficult situation. There is a reduction in funding. It is difficult to continue to find public funding, and that is true on a global scale. Now it is really important to continue to support those who are affected by this crisis. We have to take other steps so as to give them a chance to be self-sufficient and to face all the problems.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you very much.

Yes, the needs are getting greater and resources are diminishing. If we have time during the second round of questions, I would like to go back to the issue of flexibility and sustainability. We have to have long-term strategies, among others for these children about whom it is sometimes said that they are a potentially lost generation.

First, I would like to go back to the matter of access for humanitarian workers and resolution 2139. This is of course good news. However, as we know, a resolution is often only a first step. We also have to do diplomatic work to ensure that the resolution will be well put into effect on the ground. How do you see that? Can Canada contribute to that as well?

[Conrad Sauvé]

With your permission, I am going to ask my colleague Hossam Elsharkawi to reply to your question. Hossam worked for a long time in the Middle East during several conflicts.

[Hossam Elsharkawi, Director, Emergencies and Recovery, International Operations, Canadian Red Cross]

In our contacts with our colleagues at the Syrian Red Crescent, they certainly highlight the difficulties and the day-to-day, sometimes hour-to-hour, changes on the ground. They remain extremely flexible in how they respond, and extremely honest about the challenges they face. For them, it's the art of the possible to provide humanitarian assistance for that day. I think you correctly pointed out that this resolution is a step in the right direction. It's a first step. The fact that Russia and China have endorsed it is great. I think we know also from our colleagues on the ground in the Red Crescent that pressure like this in the past has made a difference on the ground for them. Despite the issues we know about the Syrian government's position and so on, when they have these private dialogues, one-on-one with the government, to access certain areas, and they have resolutions at hand, and they have certain statements made by either the UN or governments and so on, they are able to leverage that and gain access. It doesn't work all the time, but it does work often enough to give us access.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

It's an improvement.

Maybe I'll have time in this round to come back very briefly to this issue of flexibility because, as you were saying, the needs are always there. But the situation can change, and there's a need to build in sustainability, I would say, looking at the longer term.

What could we do to improve the way we work in both these respects? We can come back in the second round if we don't have time in this one.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You have about 45 seconds.

[Jessie Thomson]

Allowing for slightly longer-term implementation periods for project funding is very helpful. To date, the project implementation period has been six months. You've got to have everything going very smoothly to be able to deliver on your results in that period of time. Sometimes a year or even 18 months can give you that flexibility to adapt and even put staff on standby when required. If there's an insecure moment in northern Lebanon, we're programming in Tripoli and that can be really essential. Timeliness of decision-making is also really important. If the funding takes a long time to approve, by the time it's approved sometimes the situation or circumstance has changed and the nature of your intervention may change. That can be really helpful as well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Mr. Anderson, sir. You have seven minutes.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

I have two questions that are coming from very different places.

You respond around the world to various types of crises. Can you give us a play-by-play of how you respond and how you set up? For example, can you tell us how you might be set up differently in Lebanon than in Syria? When something begins like that, how do you step into action and into play? Ms. Thomson talked about dealing with refugees. Do you come in a bit later, when organizations like the Red Cross are set up? I'll let you think about that for a minute.

I'd like Ms. Thomson to address the issue of seeing more early marriages. Can you talk a bit about sexual exploitation and trafficking, which seems to come out of these kinds of situations? We haven't heard much about that from our witnesses. We need to hear a little bit about that because we want to do a report that's comprehensive. Could you talk about short-term marriages, sexual exploitation, and, the trafficking issue as well? Perhaps you can deal with that one first and then come back to the other one.

[Jessie Thomson]

Sure.

Certainly, it's a very serious concern. One of the key challenges with the Syrian crisis is that it is very under-reported because of social realities and because a lot of the sexual and gender-based violence is happening within families and communities. There's a lot of taboo around those actually being reported. It can be a very difficult thing to get a handle on. But we are hearing from refugees we're working with about the pressure to marry girls off earlier. This practice was found in rural areas in Syria and was a reality. It is proving to be a negative coping mechanism but a way to survive. Families see it as a way of actually helping their girls.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Are they actually being placed in what are expected to be long-term relationships or are those short-term relationships?

[Jessie Thomson]

The early marriages are expected to be long-term partnerships. Certainly, there is concern around sexual exploitation and abuse. Where families don't have livelihood opportunities, where they don't have an opportunity to work, and where female-headed households are without any kind of income, it's very easy for them to become victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. We have heard reports of abuse of refugees who are trying to access assistance and where that may be manipulated. Again, it's really under-reported. We don't have strong numbers because of that. It's more hearsay and reporting as opposed to really concrete information. But it's something that we know is going on and something that we're very concerned about.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

It's one of those things that comes with those power dynamics that exist in those crisis situations.

I'm interested in the first question then. How do you respond and what it is the play-by-play of your set-up in countries when you're faced with a crisis like this?

[Hossam Elsharkawi]

On the second question, we are also getting reports of sexual exploitation. It's certainly a taboo subject in the region and therefore it's very difficult to get to the bottom of this. It's a problem that is of serious concern to us. Often these things manifest or show up in the medical services that we run as clinical cases but we know what is behind it is in fact sexual exploitation, rape, and so on. It happens—

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

We may stay on this longer than we plan.

What about trafficking then?

[Hossam Elsharkawi]

Absolutely. There are reports of that as well. Again, it's under-reported. It's very difficult to get to the bottom of this. But it is certainly an area the Red Cross and other NGOs are paying close attention to. To the extent possible, they are working with the local authorities to bring it up when these things happen and when these things are reported.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

What would be the destination of that trafficking?

[Hossam Elsharkawi]

I don't have the details, but there are reports out there that go into a bit more detail than what we have at the Red Cross.

On your second question, it depends. In Lebanon and in other parts of that region, the true first responders are always the local Red Cross or Red Crescent volunteers in organizations. Once their capacity is exceeded, they'll typically ask for help from the international Red Cross, from Red Crosses like the Canadian Red Cross, and this is where we step in with additional resources. It could be financial, material, or expertise. We're doing this in Lebanon right now with the Lebanese Red Cross. We're helping them set up mobile clinics for the refugees along the border areas. We also have boots on the ground now with Canadians supporting the Lebanese Red Cross, if security is guaranteed. And we have that set up in Lebanon.

However, in certain contexts like Syria, it's very difficult to have access, as you know. It's insecure and so on, in which case Canadian support would typically go to organizations like the ICRC, the International Committee of the Red Cross, that are very active, with a long history in Syria and so on, and they have ramped up their operation to provide much through and for the Syrian Red Crescent.