UN NewsCenter,4 February 2016 – An international conference on war-torn Syria in London today pledged a record $10 billion after United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon laid out three main objectives: raising $7 billion in immediate humanitarian aid, mustering long-term support, and protecting civilians.
“Never has the international community raised so much money on a single day for a single crisis,” he told a news briefing at the end of the day-long conference, co-hosted by the UN and the Governments of the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Germany and Norway.
More than half of the pledged amount is earmarked to meet immediate needs in 2016 in a country where nearly five years of war has killed over 250,000 people, sent over 4 million fleeing Syria, displaced 6.5 million internally, and put 13.5 million people inside the country in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
The commitment of countries hosting large numbers of refugees to open up their labour markets is a breakthrough, he added, thanking the Governments of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey “for choosing solidarity over fear.”
He hailed the commitment to get 1.7 million children in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey into school, and to increase access to learning opportunities for children inside Syria.r of the State of Kuwait, at the Syria donors conference in London. UN
In his opening speech to the conference Mr. Ban blamed lack of humanitarian access to besieged civilians and increased air raids and military activities for undermining UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva, and he called on world powers to press the parties to engage seriously in the negotiations, now scheduled to resume on 25 February.
“It is deeply disturbing that the initial steps of the talks have been undermined by the continuous lack of sufficient humanitarian access, and by a sudden increase of aerial bombings and military activities within Syria,” Mr. Ban said. “The focus on the people of Syria is also being lost amid petty procedural matters.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Briennoted that while donors generously contributed $1.25 billion to last year’s Syria humanitarian appeal, that was just 43 per cent of the needs.
“The recent pictures of emaciated, starving children in the besieged town of Madaya shocked the collective conscience of the world,” he added.