UN and partners seek US$4.4 billion to aid Syria refugees
Funding appeal launched to support over 5 million Syrians exiled by seven years of brutal conflict as well as the vulnerable communities hosting them
A displaced Syrian family living in a collective shelter in an unfinished building in Sahnaya, rural Damascus, Syria. © UNHCR/Andrew McConnell
AMMAN, Jordan – United Nations agencies and humanitarian NGO partners launched a US$4.4 billion funding appeal today, designed to provide vital support in the coming year to more than five million refugees from Syria and the vulnerable communities hosting them in neighbouring countries.
With no end in sight to the fighting in Syria after nearly seven years of brutal conflict, the conditions faced by 5.4 million refugees across the region are increasingly desperate. The overwhelming majority live below the poverty line, often struggling with food insecurity, substandard accommodation and rising debt.
Of the refugees assessed to be most in need, some 70 per cent are women and children. More than 40 per cent of the 1.7 million Syrian refugee children across the region remain out of school.
“Refugees are not living in luxury – they are living in horrible daily survival. Every day they wake up they are looking at a very dark future.”
The 2018 Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) will target US$2.62 billion towards meeting the most urgent basic needs of refugees, such as water and sanitation, food security, health and education.
UNHCR and partners seek US$4.4 billion to aid Syrian refugees (Michelle Hoffman, producer / Alexandre St-Denis, camera)
A further US$1.78 billion will be used to support 3.9 million vulnerable people from local communities in the five main hosting countries – Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. The crisis has impacted economic growth in these countries, resulting in high unemployment - particularly among young people - and placing further strain on already limited resources.
Launching the funding appeal at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, UNHCR Director for the Middle East and North Africa Bureau Amin Awad said it was vital for the international community to continue its support for the world’s largest refugee crisis.
“Refugees are not living in luxury – they are living in horrible daily survival. Every day they wake up they are looking at a very dark future,” Awad said.
“The reality is that daily life is a struggle for Syrian refugees, and host countries continue to provide a global public good. The international community must not lose sight of them nor the continued need to shoulder their burden.”