Kuwait City – The Second International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria takes place this Wednesday (15), in Kuwait City, but on Tuesday (14), humanitarian help entities and governments had already announced donations they will be making this year for the population affected by the civil conflict in Syria. In an event prior to the start of the conference, held in the Kuwaiti capital city, Arab charity institutions have committed to donating US$ 400 million for the assistance of the Syrian population.
According to information of the government run Kuwait News Agency (Kuna), the resources shall be used for helping refugees abroad and people dislocated within Syria itself due to the war. The meeting was promoted by the International Islamic Charitable Organization, which is based in Kuwait.
According to Kuna, entities in Kuwait shall donate US$ 142 million, the British Islamic Charity Organization has announced a donation of over US$ 80 million, the Red Crescent of the United Arab Emirates shall be donating more than US$ 35 million and the Thani Foundation, of Qatar, offered US$ 15 million.
Also according to Kuna, the European Commission, executive body of the European Union, released this Tuesday that it plans on donating more than 160 million euro to meet basic needs, ensure education for the children and support neighboring countries who receive Syrian refugees.
The EU commissioner for International Cooperation, Kristalina Gerogieva, said she is “encouraging additional donations from the international community.” According to her, so far the EU has donated 2 billion euro for humanitarian aid for the Syrian population. The EU commissioner in charge of European Neighborhood Policy, Stefan Fuel, added that the bloc managed to encourage the donation of 400 million euro last summer alone. The conflict in Syria has been going on for almost three years.
Further donations were announced by other countries. Bahrain, for example, has declared it shall contribute with US$ 20 million, Finland with 7 million euro and Indonesia with US$ 500,000. The information is from news websites from these countries.
Last year, Brazil sent US$ 500,000 for Syrian aid, and a new sum is to be donated in 2014. “Brazil believes it is important to offer humanitarian assistance, but the war must end,” observed the head of Business at the Brazilian embassy in Kuwait, João Tabajara Júnior.
On January 22 there shall be a second Syria Peace Conference, in Switzerland, in the city of Montreux, where representatives of the president Bashar Al Assad regime and the opposition are expected to face each other.
Polio
The United Nations (UN), which is organizing the conference this Wednesday together with the Kuwaiti government, has announced that they must raise US$ 6.5 billion this year to keep up the humanitarian help for Syrians affected by the conflict.
Many UN agencies involved in this work are announcing their needs this year. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is pledging US$ 150 million, the World Health Organization (WHO) another US$ 178 million, and the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) another US$ 835 million.
The harsh Syrian winter and diseases are some of the greatest concerns. According to Unicef representatives in Kuwait, since October last year there have been 17 cases of poliomyelitis in Syria, which had not registered cases of the disease since the 1990s. A vaccination campaign was started last week in an attempt to offer immunization for all children under the age of five.
In all, there are fifteen UN agencies working in Syria, with the support of 18 international partner NGOs. These are the entities that need resources. One of them is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which accepts donations on their websites www.unhcr.org (in English) and www.acnur.org (in Portuguese).
*Translated by Silvia Lindsey
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