The European Union Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Kristalina Georgieva, discussed the barriers to aid initiatives in Syria during a press conference held at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Georgieva said the two largest barriers to aid programmes were the expansion and acceleration of fighting, and the fact that not all international humanitarian workers who applied for Syrian visas were approved by the Syrian government.

“We just need more helping hands in a crisis that is deepening,” she said.

Georgieva said that access to aid could be increased by permitting more humanitarian and UN workers to enter Syria.

With the spread of fighting, the displacement of people has increased to 1.2 million people with an increasing number of refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries.

“If you don’t help, inside people would feel pressed to flee and that would create additional risk to fragile situations in the neighbouring countries,” said Georgieva.

Executive Director of UNICEF (The United Nations Children’s Fund), Anthony Lake also spoke at the conference, explaining that approximately one tenth of the schools in Syria have now been closed with many children set to return to school next week.

330 schools have also been taken over by the internally displaced.

The European Union has increased their funding towards the Syrian aid effort to a total of 119 million Euros, with over 200 million Euros of funding from member states and the EU combined. This equates to over 50 percent of humanitarian contributions in Syria.

Georgieva also urged both sides of the conflict to respect international humanitarian law amidst reports of attacks on hospitals, ambulances and aid workers.

“In a war, the law of war applies. International humanitarian law must be respected,” she said.

“Many of the rebels have no idea they have responsibility, but that is not an excuse.”

So far in the conflict, eight humanitarian workers have died; six from the Syrian Red Crescent, one United Nations Refugee Agency worker, and one United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration staff member.

Georgieva said the best protection for humanitarian workers in a conflict situation is “to stick to the principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence.”

In the absence of a political solution, Georgieva said “it is our duty to work as hard as we can to get more help to people inside Syria.”