UNITED NATIONS: The UN Refugee Agency said on Wednesday that large numbers of Syrian refugees fleeing the hostilities for the last five years are steadily slipping into abject poverty due to the breadth of the crisis and “insufficient support” from the international community.

The agency’s latest study on the plight of those displaced by the conflict, entitled “Living in the Shadows”, reveals evidence of a “deepening humanitarian crisis” affecting the 150,000 refugees profiled with one in six Syrian refugee households living in abject poverty and two-thirds of refugees across Jordan now living below the poverty line, according to an agency press release..

“Unless the international community increases its support to refugees, families will opt for ever more drastic coping strategies. More children will drop out of school to work and more women will be at risk of exploitation, including survival sex,” António Guterres , head of the UNHCR, said as he launched the report from Jordan, where he is scheduled to meet refugees in Amman, and at the Za’atari camp.

“I am here to express my solidarity with Syrian refugees, as the impact of snowstorm Huda is still tangible and posing an even greater strain on their already dire living conditions,” he added, referring to the deadly winter storm that has swept across the Middle East over the past few days.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2015

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