International community pledges 5.6 billion euros to support Syrians
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The international community pledged on Thursday, during the Brussels 7th Conference on Syria, to allocate 5.6 billion euros to help the Syrian refugees in Syria and neighboring countries.
About 3.8 billion euros of the allocations, which included 4.6 billion euros for 2023 and 1 billion euros for 2024 and beyond, were pledged by the EU, with 2.1 billion from the European Commission and 1.7 billion by the EU Member States.
Furthermore, international financial institutions and donors have assigned 4 billion euros in loans, adding up the overall amount to 9.6 billion euros.
Germany alone allocated 1 billion euros of the total amount. “It would be a fatal mistake to forget the Syrian crisis now,” Germany’s Development Minister Svenja Schulze said at a conference on Syria in Brussels.
The 12-year-old civil war and February 2023 earthquakes have left more than 15 million people in need of humanitarian aid and 90 percent of Syrians living below the poverty line, according to the UN. The Hanke 2022 Annual Misery Index listed Syria as the third most miserable country in the world, spurred by soaring inflation and acute unemployment, among other things.
The international community’s support for Syria followed numerous appeals by the United Nations and humanitarian organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC).