The UN warned Tuesday the plight of millions of Syrian refugees was becoming “desperate,” with aid funds running low as donors and humanitarian groups met in Brussels to discuss the next steps.
The EU and the UN are co-chairing a two-day conference to follow up on a London meeting last year which raised $11 billion (10 billion euros) for aid programmes to help the devastated country.
“The situation is getting desperate,” Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said in a statement with the UN Development Programme as the conference opened.
“We are already seeing children who aren´t able to go to school, families who cannot access adequate shelter or provide for their basic needs,” Grandi said.
The UNHCR and UNDP said they, along with aid groups and governments, were “extremely concerned by the current low funding levels of the response to help millions of Syrian refugees and the communities hosting them.”
More than five million Syrian refugees have fled to Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, with many also going to Europe, a statement said.
“Yet, as the world prepares to meet in Brussels, only a fraction of the funds needed to assist them has been received,” it said.
The UN estimates 3.4 billion euros ($3.6 billion) is needed for humanitarian aid this year inside Syria, with another 4.7 billion euros required to help the refugees.
The UNHCR and UNDP said that of this 4.7 billion euros, only 433 million euros or just nine percent had been pledged so far.
“Without additional funding, all areas of assistance will be curtailed this year,” they warned.
“Food and cash assistance will be reduced or cut by mid-year, challenging stability and security in the region,” they added.
The 28-nation European Union, with Germany, Kuwait, Norway, Qatar, Britain and the United Nations, are co-chairing the “Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region.”
It began Tuesday with a series of workshops, to be followed by a formal session Wednesday to review progress on the London pledges and see what additional measures might be taken.
The conference will “also consider the prospects for post-agreement assistance once a genuinely inclusive political transition is firmly under way.”
More than 320,000 people have died in fighting since protests against President Bashar al-Assad turned into a full-blown civil war in 2011, while the majority of the population has been displaced.
The EU estimates that about 13.5 million Syrians need humanitarian assistance inside the country, in addition to the five million who have fled.
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