5,000 people a month are dying because of conflict in Syria, according to the United Nations. Officials say it is now the worst refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
An average of 6,000 people leave the country every day.
A number of top UN officials are now calling on the divided UN Security Council to take stronger action to deal with the fallout from the 2-year conflict, which has claimed 100,000 lives.
"We are not only watching the destruction of a country but also of its people" the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos said in a briefing to the Council in New York. "This is a regional crisis not a crisis in Syria with regional consequences, requiring sustained and comprehensive engagement from the international community".
Ms. Amos was joined by UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, and Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Imonovic, who delivered a statement on behalf of Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
All the officials expressed extreme concern about the deepening violence, grave human rights violations, worsening humanitarian situation and particularly, the massive refugee crisis, which Mr. Guterres said was escalating at such a frightening rate that it resembled the outflow seen during the Rwandan genocide of nearly 20 years ago.
Since fighting began in March 2011 between the Syrian government and groups seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad, as many as 100,000 people have been killed, almost 2 million have fled to neighbouring countries and a further 4 million have been internally displaced.
In addition, the UN says at least 6.8 million Syrians require urgent humanitarian assistance, half of them are children.
Lebanon and Jordan are currently the 2 most affected countries, hosting over one million refugees between them.
UN Humanitarian Chief Valerie Amos briefs Security Council via video from Geneva
Ms. Amos said that while UN agencies continue to deliver assistance, gaps in the humanitarian response remain as access to many affected areas such as Homs and Aleppo is difficult due to security concerns or government restrictions.
"The Government has also imposed bureaucratic procedures which have impeded humanitarian workers to access affected areas" she added. "Some locations remain inaccessible due to active fighting or insecurity. However, there are other areas, sometimes only a few kilometres away from our offices - including in Damascus and Homs - where we are not granted authorisation to enter" she added.
Mr. Guterres added that "Measures must be taken now to mitigate the enormous risks of spill-over and to support the stability of Syria's neighbours, so as to keep the situation from escalating into a political, security and humanitarian crisis that would move far beyond the international capacity to respond".
He appealed to international financial institutions, UN organisations and development agencies to cooperate with host countries to try and cope with the impact of the crisis in Syria.
