Donors pledge $6.7bn in aid for Syria despite war ‘fatigue’
About $6.7 billion has been pledged at an international donor conference to support Syria and its neighbours.
This is despite what the EU’s foreign policy chief described as “a certain fatigue” with the civil war there.
The pledges – which go a long way towards a UN target of $10.5bn for this year – were made at a gathering of 55 countries in Brussels on Tuesday.
Russia was excluded because of its invasion of Ukraine.
Of the total pledged, $6.1bn is for refugees, asylum seekers and stateless people, the largest budget request since the refugee plan began in 2015.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s senior foreign policy official, said there were seven million such refugees – compared with the 5.9 million who have fled the war in Ukraine. This has placed a “heavy burden” on Syria’s neighbours, he said.
“Syria and the suffering of its people might not be [at] the centre of the news any more,” said Mr Borrell. “There is a certain fatigue after 11 years. But it remains in our minds.”
The EU said it would provide €1.56bn ($1.64bn) this year and the same amount in 2023, for Syrians in their home country and refugees.
US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the food crisis resulting from the war between Russia and Ukraine – two of the world’s top wheat producers – was exacerbating the situation in Syria. She said cooking oil prices had
jumped by 39 per cent in Syria since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Diplomats heard that 90 per cent of Syrians in the country are living in poverty and more than half suffer from food insecurity.
The UN children’s fund said necessities for young people – such as sanitation, education and nutrition – had been “cut to the bone”.
About a third of children in Syria are chronically malnourished, Unicef chief Catherine Russell told diplomats. Young refugees were growing up in circumstances “riddled with loss, risk and uncertainty”.
“These are dangerous, even deadly, times to be a child in Syria,” she said.
Describing the plight of Syrians in Jordan, Ms Thomas-Greenfield said refugees told her it was “impossible to return home” until the humanitarian situation improved.
“Their testimony is a demonstration of just how dire the situation is right now for the Syrian people,” she said.
The US pledged $800 million, while Britain offered £158m ($195m) to support food production, women and girls, aid deliveries and Syria’s northeast region. Norway said it would provide 155m kroner ($16m) this year.
The UN Security Council will be asked in July to extend the use of a border crossing between Syria and Turkey to deliver humanitarian aid.
Western countries lay much of the blame for the crisis at the door of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. They say they will not fund Syria’s reconstruction until efforts towards a diplomatic solution make progress.
Mr Borrell said warring parties had to commit to political reform. “Until the process is fulfilled, the Syrian people will not be forgotten by us, whatever other events require our attention,” he said.