UAE reaffirms support for Syria at Brussels donors’ meeting
ABU DHABI: Represented by Reem Bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, the United Arab Emirates participated in the Brussels IV virtual pledging conference on “Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region,” organised by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), and the United Nations with representatives of states and national and international organisations.
International donors pledged 6.9 billion euros ($7.7 billion) to face the ongoing humanitarian challenges of the nine-year Syrian crisis, the EU announced on Tuesday.
The conference aimed to mobilise additional humanitarian and development funds to support the Syrian people in Syria and neighboring countries, with more than 6 million displaced Syrians living outside the country and another 11 million in need of humanitarian aid across Syria.
Reem Al Hashemy reaffirmed the UAE’S commitment to supporting the Syrian people in times of crisis, particularly as they face the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She acknowledged the efforts of medical staff devoted to performing their duties despite a shortage of equipment and resources that places them at grave professional risk.
This shortage, she continued, requires us all to extend a helping hand to compensate for this lack of equipment and medical supplies.
Moreover, Al Hashemy extended her gratitude to the event organisers, notably the European Union and the United Nations, and recognised their consistent efforts to address the Syrian crisis.
She added, “The UAE values the firm commitment of the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Office to address humanitarian crises in countries neighbouring the UAE and for its vision for the region, especially in responding to the Syrian crisis.”
Ater ten years of conflict and suffering in Syria, she noted that the UAE has been a longstanding supporter of the Syrian people, having provided over $1 billion of emergency humanitarian and development aid since 2012 to Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Greece, in addition to those internally displaced within Syria.
UAE aid has included the provision of healthcare and the construction of field hospitals and refugee camps such as Mrajeeb Al Fhood a joint Jordanian-uae camp providing assistance, protection, and social services which currently runs at $30 million. The UAE, along with its partners the US and Germany, contributes to the Syria Recovery Trust Fund, SRTF.
She concluded her remarks by underscoring that the UAE believes that a political solution is the only manner of ending the Syrian crisis and fully supports UN efforts in this regard.
BRUSSELS: The European Union and dozens of donor nations pledged a total of 6.9 billion euros ($7.7 billion) on Tuesday to help tackle the humanitarian crisis deepening in Syria and neighbouring countries hosting millions of Syrian refugees as the coronavirus pandemic and economic crises compound the misery of nearly a decade of civil war.
EU Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic announced the total at the end of a day-long online pledging conference organized by the EU and United Nations.
“We have today expressed solidarity with the Syrian people, not only with words, but with concrete pledges of support that will make a
“Some of them may have a significant impact — politically, economically and socially — and some parties will try to use them to fuel and create instability.”
Earlier in June, security forces arrested at least nine leaders of Bashir’s now dissolved National Congress Party for ploting “hostilities” against the government, Information Minister Faisal Saleh said on Monday. difference for millions of people,” Lenarcic said.
The war in Syria has killed more than 400,000 people and sparked a refugee exodus that has destabilized neighbouring countries and impacted Europe. Around 11 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and some 9 million don’t have enough to eat.
More than half of the population have no jobs. International anti-poverty organization Oxfam said the amount pledged fell short of what is needed.
“The pledges made by donor governments are simply not enough to address the Syrian crisis with 1 million people at risk of starvation inside the country, and COVID-19 and an economic
They were arrested in a raid on a house in Khartoum on June 18, and brought to prosecutors for further investigations, Saleh said. downturn hiting refugees and host communities in neighbouring countries hard,” said Marta Lorenzo, Oxfam’s Middle East and North Africa regional director.
UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria Imran Riza, speaking from Qamishli in northern Syria, underscored the problems.
“We are on the cusp of all these multiple crises,” Riza said. “You see kids that are clearly now geting malnourished. You are seeing levels of malnutrition that we have never seen in the last nine years and this gets worse and worse if you don’t take action right now.”
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas pledged
Last August, the protests, along with international pressure, forced the generals to sign a power-sharing deal with the protesters, creating a joint civilian-military “sovereign council.”
The protest organisers also called for the appointment of civilian governors for Sudan’s provinces and making peace with the country’s rebels who were part of the power-sharing deal. 1.584 billion euros ($1.8 billion) on Germany’s behalf as he, too, warned that the global pandemic was exacerbating the grim realities of life in war-shatered Syria.
“Access to humanitarian assistance is even further restricted,” he said during the virtual donor conference. “And health facilities that lie in ruins cannot atend to the enormous needs. Today, we can demonstrate that the world cares, that the people of Syria are not forgoten.”
Britain’s International Development Secretary, Anne-marie Trevelyan, pledged £300 million to support areas including education, food and fighting the coronavirus.