Heeding UN call for funds, donors pledge $2.4 billion to assist Syrians in need
Jan 16, 2014: Donors at a conference in Kuwait on Wednesday pledged more than $2.4
billion in response to appeals by United Nations officials for urgent funds to assist
millions of people inside Syria and in neighbouring countries affected by the conflict
that has raged for nearly three years.
“These pledges prove that the people
devastated by this conflict are not forgotten,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said
during the Second International Humanitarian Pledging Conference on Syria. “It is
also sending a strong signal to the neighbouring countries – that we appreciate their
generosity, and that they will not be left to shoulder the burden alone.”
The
conflict in Syria, which began in March 2011, has produced “unprecedented” demands
for humanitarian and development agencies, Mr. Ban told the gathering earlier, noting
that $6.5 billion is needed this year.
An estimated 9.3 million people in Syria,
many of them stranded in hard-to-reach and besieged areas, urgently need help, according
to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Nearly half
of them are children, who do not have adequate access to health care or education.
More
than 3 million people have fled Syria and are taking refuge in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey,
Iraq and Egypt, causing great hardship and raising tensions throughout the region.
In
January 2013, the First Pledging Conference for Syria saw 43 Member States pledge
$1.5 billion towards humanitarian efforts. Those funds were used to provide life-saving
assistance for millions of people in Syria and surrounding countries, including emergency
food rations, mobile medical care and vaccinations, clean water and sanitation, and
basic shelter.
“Humanitarian aid is the difference between life and death,
hope and despair. It has already assisted millions of people affected by this crisis,”
said Mr. Ban. “I count on you to show the Syrian people that the world is here to
help.”
Hosted by the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah,
and chaired by the UN Secretary-General, the conference offers the international community
to continue supporting the humanitarian response to help the millions affected by
the Syria crisis.
It comes ahead of next week’s talks in Switzerland aimed
at finding a political solution to the civil war that has already claimed well over
100,000 lives amid fighting between the Government and various groups seeking the
ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.
“This is the biggest humanitarian crisis
we face today,” UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos told
the conference. “We all hope that the political talks due to begin next week will
deliver a positive result. In the meantime, every child, every woman, every man affected
by this crisis deserves our continued support.