AMMAN — Funding
of the regional plan to respond to the
Syrian crisis and the countries hosting
them has reached in the first five months of this year only 11 percent of the
6.4 billion euros pledged last year, raising concerns among most organizations
working with these refugees.
اضافة اعلان
According to the
European Commission website, over 4.8 billion euros were pledged by the EU,
with over 3.1 billion euros coming from the European Commission and 1.7 billion
euros from the EU member states. EU countries have remained the largest donors
supporting people in Syria and the region, having mobilized 27.4 billion euros
overall since the beginning of the crisis in 2011.
“After 11 years of
suffering, we cannot and will not forget the Syrian people. The humanitarian
situation in Syria is only getting worse. Over 14.6 million Syrians need
humanitarian assistance inside Syria alone, 1.2 million more than in 2021.
Millions more need continued support in their host countries in the region as
well. Despite the challenges, the EU continues delivering humanitarian
assistance to the most vulnerable Syrians and their host communities,”
Commissioner for Crisis Management at European Commission Janez Lenarčič said.
UN High
Commissioner for Refugees in the
Middle East and North Africa spokesperson Rula
Amin was quoted by a local media outlet as saying that the funding so far
represents “an unacceptable number”; she called for a “more significant and
serious commitment to humanitarian funding operations to reach those in need”.
UNHCR is
requesting 9.95 billion euros to come to the aid of the 5.7 million Syrian
refugees who live in different host countries or are internally displaced,
according to Amin.
As such, the
amount donated thus far gives reason to worry. Still, according to
UNHCR Spokesperson Lilly Carlise, who said the commission “was somewhat concerned
about decreasing humanitarian funding, especially given all the other crises
happening in the world, like in Ukraine and Afghanistan”, the level of funding
pledged at the Tuesday donors’ meeting “was not expected”.
“The pledge showed
that the international community is still committed to Syrians inside Syria and
in hosting countries like Jordan,” Carlise said.
She added that the
11 percent can be expected to increase “because some donor countries have
committed to giving money later in the year”.
President of
Jordan Red Crescent Society Mohammad Al-Hadid told
Jordan News that the
need is much higher than the support received and urged the international
community to honor the pledges it made.
Jordan is carrying
most of the burden, Hadid said, adding that it “cannot carry on hosting this
large number of refugees since the Jordanian government is in a dire situation
regarding finances”.
According to the
director of
Phenix Center for Economic Studies, Ahmad Awad, funding is weak and
expected to decrease further “because there are other priorities in Europe now
in light of the Russian-Ukraine conflict”.
“We already
witnessed the suspension of many refugee-related projects, with the funds
donors allocated to these projects redirected to Ukraine,” Awad said.
“Our role is to focus on
priorities, which are to improve economic growth and enhance the livelihood of
Syrian refugees, improve the health and education sectors, and enhance the
independence of local NGOs whose work is restricted, which affects the quality
of their services,” he said.
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