MARKING THE THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN SYRIA; Congressional Record Vol. 160, No. 41

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MARKING THE THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN SYRIA

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HON. SAM FARR

of california

in the house of representatives

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark the three-year

anniversary of the humanitarian crisis in Syria. This horrific conflict

has left over 100,000 people dead, a population roughly the size of

Boulder, Colorado. Of those 100,000 casualties of war, 10,000 were

children. As I speak, 5.5 million living children are dangerously

vulnerable, having \\\`\\\`lost lives and limbs, along with virtually every

aspect of their childhood,'' according to the United Nations. And the

displacement crisis continues to explode, with some 6.5 million Syrians

internally displaced within their own country and 2.4 million Syrians

living as refugees in neighboring countries.

Mr. Speaker, it is easy to become desensitized by numbers of this

scale. But these are not merely newspaper headlines. These statistics

are made up of real people who had real hopes and real dreams, too many

of which have been crushed by war and violence. The international

community must draw on the full spectrum of diplomatic and development

tools to bring swift, lasting stability to Syria and the surrounding

countries. Three years is three years too long. The time for peace is

now. We cannot wait a moment longer.

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