UN warns Syria refugee aid funds running low

The UN warned yesterday the plight of millions of Syrian refugees was becoming “desperate,” with aid funds running low as donors and humanitarian groups met in Brussels to discuss the next steps.

The EU and the UN are cochairing a two- day conference to follow up on a London meeting last year which raised US$11 billion (10 billion euros) for aid programmes to help the devastated country.

“The situation is getting desperate,” Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said in a statement with the UN Development Programme as the conference opened.

“We are already seeing children who aren’t able to go to school, families who cannot access adequate shelter or provide for their basic needs,” Grandi said.

The UNHCR and UNDP said they, along with aid groups and governments, were “extremely concerned by the current low funding levels of the response to help millions of Syrian refugees and the communities hosting them.”

More than five million Syrian refugees have fled to Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, with many also going to Europe, a statement said.

“Yet, as the world prepares to meet in Brussels, only a fraction of the funds needed to assist them has been received,” it said.

The UN estimates 3.4 billion euros ( US$ 3.6 billion) is needed for humanitarian aid this year inside Syria, with another 4.7 billion euros required to help the refugees.

The UNHCR and UNDP said that of this 4.7 billion euros, only 433 million euros or just nine per cent had been pledged so far.

“Without additional funding, all areas of assistance will be curtailed this year,” they warned.

“Food and cash assistance will be reduced or cut by mid-year, challenging stability and security in the region,” they added.

The 28-nation European Union, with Germany, Kuwait, Norway, Qatar, Britain and the United Nations, are co- chairing the ‘ Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region.’

It began yesterday with a series of workshops, to be followed by a formal session today to review progress on the London pledges and see what additional measures might be taken.

The conference will “also consider the prospects for postagreement assistance once a genuinely inclusive political transition is firmly under way.”

More than 320,000 people have died in fighting since protests against President Bashar al-Assad turned into a full-blown civil war in 2011, while the majority of the population has been displaced. — AFP

Russia threw up a hurdle Monday in a US plan to hold a highprofile debate later this month on human rights during the US presidency of the UN Security Council.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley wants to schedule the human rights debate for April 18, but the council adopted a program of work for the month without putting it on the agenda.

Russian charge d’affaires Petr Iliichev said he was open to discussion on the scope of the debate and argued that the UN Human Rights Council – not the Security Council – was the venue for the meeting.

Iliichev told reporters following a brief meeting to adopt the monthly agenda that “just a general statement that international peace and security are threatened by human rights violations is not true.”

Diplomats said China and Egypt also expressed reservations over the debate that would be the centrepiece of the US council presidency, along with a meeting on peacekeeping to be held Thursday and another one on North Korea on April 28.

Chinese Ambassador Liu Jieyi told reporters that a “way out” of the dispute could be found.

Haley told a news conference that she will press on with the planned debate in a move that would force Russia and China to call for a procedural vote to try to block the discussion on April 18.

That attempt, however, is likely to fail as only nine votes are needed in the 15-member council for the debate to be formally put on the agenda.

“We do fully expect to have that on the 18th,” said Haley.

“Human rights is to me integral in how a country treats their people and what can cause protest and conflict and how that can lead to more serious situations where the extremists can actually come in and take advantage of those vulnerabilities.”

Haley said discussions were ongoing to try to address the concerns raised by some council members. — AFP

A Spanish matador has undergone surgery on deep puncture wounds in his throat and leg after being gored by a bull at Madrid’s famed Las Ventas bullring on Sunday.

Daniel Garcia Navarrete was knocked off his feet after being gored in the leg by the 460kg bull, who then went for his throat as he lay on the ground covering

Authorities in southern Mexico on Monday were investigating the weekend robbery of more than two dozen German tourists by armed men at a popular Mayan archaeological site.

The attack late Saturday targeted 28 Germans and their two tour guides in the town of his face.

Las Ventas officials said the injuries were 15cm deep in the throat and 10cm into the leg.

The animal tossed Navarrete around the ring before other matadors came to his rescue and warned the animal off in an incident witnessed by more than 10,000 people at Spain’s largest bullring. — Reuters Palenque in the southern state of Chiapas.

One guide, Mary Gramilich, said her group, on the latest stop of a tour across Mexico, was accosted at the historic site by several armed and hooded men carrying knives and guns.

They stole their money, cameras and other valuables. — AFP