EU-UNFPA Partnership Delivers Critical Care, Protection to Syrian Women & Girls

Over the past year, humanitarian funding from the European Union (EU) has enabled the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to deliver much-needed care and protection to nearly 300,000 Syrians throughout the country, primarily women and girls. The much-needed assistance, totalling EUR 14.6 million between 2023 and 2025, includes sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and the prevention and response to gender-based violence (GBV), delivered from Damascus and cross-border from Gaziantep.

Despite the sustained efforts of humanitarian actors, the Syria crisis remains one of the world’s most complex humanitarian and protection emergencies. In 2024, 16.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance — the highest number since the onset of the crisis in 2011. Among them, 8.4 million women and girls, around 4.1 million of whom are of reproductive age. 

A recent desk review conducted by UNFPA has revealed significant challenges in healthcare access across Syria, impacting essential health services drastically. Meanwhile, women and girls continue to face human rights violations that include unlawful killings, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, and gender-based violence and discrimination, all of which have become normalised in recent years. UNFPA remains unwavering in its commitment to delivering a harmonised regional response to ensure that women and girls are protected from violence while also having access to quality SRH services — a vision that cannot be realised without the generous support of donors like the EU. 

"The health, rights, and dignity of women and girls in Syria are irreplaceable," remarked Laila Baker, UNFPA’s Regional Director for the Arab States. "Thanks to the EU's formidable partnership and support to our joint commitments, we have been able to provide essential sexual and reproductive health and protection services throughout Syria, including in rural and hard-to-reach areas, where such services are often scarce."

A recent impact assessment across Syria revealed that community members highly value UNFPA-supported services, with 90 percent of respondents rating these services as "absolutely essential" or "very important." Additionally, women and girls surveyed emphasised the scarcity of such services in their communities, underscoring the indispensable nature of a coordinated, impactful response.