(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency)
Geneva, Dec. 11 (Petra ) - United Nations Agencies and NGO partners on Tuesday launched the 2019-2020 Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP), a $5.5 billion plan designed to support national efforts in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq in dealing with the continued impact of the Syria crisis.
A statement said that these neighboring countries have remained incredibly generous in hosting large refugee populations since the start of the crisis, offering asylum and protection, making their public services available to refugees, and enabling more and more refugees to participate in the local economy, despite the toll it has taken on their own development trajectory.
Nevertheless, dealing with such an extremely high number of refugees remains challenging. Some 5.6 million Syrian refugees are currently registered across the region with around one million newly born in displacement. it pointed out.
"These one million children have largely been born into a situation where poverty and unemployment are common, early marriage and child labor occur, and an education is not always secure", said Amin Awad, UNHCR Director for the Middle East and North Africa Bureau and Regional Refugee Coordinator for Syria and Iraq.
"It is critical that the international community continues to recognize the plight of Syrian refugees and provides vital support to host governments and 3RP partners to help shoulder this massive burden, while waiting for voluntary return in safety and dignity" he added.
The statement said that vulnerable host communities, who have welcomed Syrian refugees so graciously, also face deepening socio-economic challenges, 3RP partners seek to directly assist around 3.9 million host community members, particularly through livelihoods and economic opportunities, basic services and supporting the work of local institutions and municipalities.
Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States, Mourad Wahba, said: "Communities in the region hosting refugees from Syria have shown tremendous generosity, yet are increasingly themselves under strain. As an international community, we must do our utmost to show solidarity with these vulnerable hosts who are giving so much despite themselves having to make ends meet."
"Our collective response must also ensure that host countries are supported to pursue development to withstand the crisis while also keeping an eye on the future," he stated.
In 2019, 3RP partners plan to implement a wide-ranging response targeting over nine million people across the five countries.
Such support includes helping to address on-going protection challenges for refugees, getting more children into some form of education, enhancing basic services and economic opportunities, especially for women, and leveraging the expertise of 3RP partners to strengthen the response capacity of national and local actors.
Since its inception in 2015, the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) has been at the forefront of responding to the impact of the Syria crisis in five neighboring refugee-hosting countries, added the statement.
Some $12 billion has been channeled through the 3RP's 270 humanitarian and development partners since 2015 to help address the challenges facing refugee and vulnerable host communities, in support of national efforts, it noted.
SS, AJ
11/12/2018 15:43:21
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