UN Appeals To Int'l Community For More Financial Support For Syrian People

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BRUSSELS, June 14 (KUNA) -- The United nation Wednesday called on the international community to give more help for the Syrian people and those hosting them.
"The needs are enormous. Every contribution will help alleviate suffering and bring some measure of hope to millions of people," said the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi and the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Achim Steiner in a joint statement ahead on the eve of the Seventh Brussels Conference on Syria.
"Now is the time to step up and recommit to support Syrians and address the dire needs throughout the region. We appeal to donors for your continued generosity and to quickly provide the resources required. That will allow us to deliver, and step up, our work in Syria and in host countries," they said.
"While the United Nations and non-governmental organizations have continued to work for the Syrian people across the country and for the Syrian refugees and their hosts, we need much greater financial support from the international community," stressed the statement.
It noted that the crisis in Syria has now lasted twice as long as the Second World War.
The revised Humanitarian Response Plan for inside Syria requires USD 5.4 billion.
It is only 11 percent funded and requires funding across its three pillars: humanitarian assistance, protection, and early recovery and livelihoods, said the UN statement.
For the first time, every district in Syria is experiencing humanitarian stress. More than 15 million people - seven out of ten - need humanitarian aid and protection. More than 13 million people were forced to flee their homes looking for safety, it said.
This includes 6.8 million Syrian refugees who have fled to neighboring countries where they have stayed for more than a decade.
Today, in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkiye, 13.5 million people need humanitarian and long-term resilience support, including 6.1 million people in local host communities, it added.
The EU is hosting the 7th Brussels Conference on 'Supporting the future of Syria and the region' which offers a platform to reiterate the continued support of the European Union and the international community for the Syrian people, the Syrian refugees, and their host communities, said an EU statement earlier today. (end)
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