Funds for Syria refugees dangerously low: UNHCR
The United Nations has called on international donors to make good on their pledges of aid for 3.9 million Syrian refugees, insisting that it is running out of funds to continue delivering basic services.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced on Thursday that there is also a severe shortage of funds to provide relief aid to more than 20 million people in the neighboring states hosting the refugees.
According to the UN body, of the USD 4.53 billion required under the so-called Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan, only USD 1.06 billion, or 23 percent, had been received by the end of May.
UNHCR Commissioner Antonio Guterres said that this “massive crisis requires far more solidarity and responsibility-sharing from the international community than what we have seen so far.”
Instead, he added, “We are so dangerously low on funding that we risk not being able to meet even the most basic survival needs of millions of people over the coming six months.”
Meanwhile, aid groups say 1.6 million of the refugees had food aid reduced so far this year. This is while 750,000 children are not attending school and many refugees can no longer afford health services.
The UNHCR further stated that in face of the difficult conditions in the countries hosting the refugees, a growing number of Syrians cannot find refuge and many are seeking to risk the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
The UN body also urged the international community to do more to share the refugee burden by providing timely funding as well as additional resettlement opportunities and other forms of humanitarian admission.
Syria has been grappling with a destructive foreign-sponsored crisis since March 2011. The violence fueled by Takfiri groups has so far claimed the lives of an estimated 230,000 people, according to reports.
While nearly four million Syrians have left their country since the beginning of the crisis, more than 7.2 million Syrians have also become internally displaced, according to the United Nations.
MFB/MKA/HMV
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