Qatar’s aid to the Syrian people since the beginning of the crisis has reached more than $2bn, said a senior official here yesterday.
Its pledges and assistance in support of this cause have reached nearly $1.6bn in the past year, said Dr Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hamadi, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while addressing the opening session of the tenth meeting of the Top Donors Group for Syria held yesterday.
The Syrian crisis, that has claimed the lives of half a million people can be resolved only when the Syrian people get the rights they deserve and for which they have sacrificed, he added noting that Qatar knows the meaning of struggle for the right and from this point, Doha has become known as the castle for the oppressed.
Al Hammadi said Qatar's hosting the meeting under complex circumstances demonstrates its keenness to support the brotherly Syrian people in light of the inability of the international community to address the root causes of the seven-year crisis.
Qatar is proud of its humanitarian efforts, and is proud of the UN Secretary-General's Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Muraikhi, one of its sons who worked hard in the humanitarian field, wishing him all luck and success.
The meeting was headed and opened by the UN Secretary General’s Humanitarian Envoy, Dr Ahmed Al Meraikhi, and attended by representatives of donating countries. Representatives of counties hosting Syrian refuges including Republic of Turkey, Iraq and Jordan also addressed the meeting.
Al Hamadi, said, reviewing Qatari aids to Syria, that Qatar organised the largest campaign of donations to support the Syrian people and managed to raise about $330m in December last year. In Brussels on April 4 and 5, Qatar pledged $100m and the conference resulted in $6bn pledges to support Syria.
He noted that on the directives of the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, all aspects of celebrating the National Day of the State were canceled on December 18 in solidarity with the Syrian people when Aleppo was subjected to the most severe repression, displacement, and genocide.
Doha also hosted a regional meeting in early April included the United Nations and 25 national and regional non-governmental organizations resulted in pledges of $262m in support of the humanitarian response to Syria, he added
He added that Qatar hosts the Syrian brothers and provides them with a decent livelihood of jobs, education and health care, in addition to the allocation of special projects to support education and reunification programs for Syrian families in Doha.
Brussels meeting in April, which brought together representatives of over 70 countries and organizations donors pledges $6bn to support resilience, adaptation and development activities in 2017, and an additional $3.7bn in support for the activities in 2018-2019, said UN Secretary-General's Envoy Dr. Al Muraikhi.
Regarding the overall regional funding, the 3RP (Regional Refugee & Resilience Plan) is only received 23 percent as of 6 June, 2017 out of the 4.6 billion out of the appeal required for 2017.
Al Muraikhi noting that work is continuing to realize the pledges into a serious commitment from humanitarian partners to give genuine support to the Syrians and give them hope.
UN envoy noted that food insecurity affects 7 million people and another 2 million people are at risk praising the role of the neighboring countries, which are hosting 4.7 million refugees.
Highlighting the humanitarian crisis in Syria, he said there are more than 770 medical workers who were killed and 30 attacks on medical facilities were occurred in a country where only 50% of its health facilities are functioning under spread of infectious diseases.
The UN envoy called for allowing humanitarian actors to reach all those in need throughout Syria, and to remove obstacles to medical convoys and protect civilians and infrastructure by all parties to the conflict. He also called for allowing the humanitarian community to provide medicines for patients and food, especially as more than 13.5 million Syrians are in desperate need of support.
Meanwhile, representative of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Marcy Vigoda praised Qatar's efforts in support of the Syrian refugees at the governmental level or through civil society organisations both inside Syria and besieged cities or in neighboring countries of Syria, noting the great role of the State of Qatar in supporting the United Nations and its competent organisations in this regard.
