Syria meeting in Rome endorses immediate action to ensure humanitarian access

ROME – The U.N. humanitarian chief says a meeting of key international players involved in trying to end the Syrian conflict has endorsed a dozen steps to ensure immediate humanitarian relief.

Valerie Amos didn't detail the actions, saying only that they involved "access to besieged communities, access to hard to reach areas, demilitarization of schools and hospitals" and progress on funding.

Amos spoke after a daylong meeting Monday in Rome hosted by Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino tried to make progress on the humanitarian crisis after Syrian peace talks in Geneva last week failed to produce a plan.

At the start of the meeting, Bonino said the Syrian crisis "is the biggest humanitarian tragedy of our time" in terms of the number of people killed or displaced.