Dr. Khalid Al-Shafi
By Dr Khalid Al-Jaber
KUWAIT: Qatar has pledged to set up a special fund for education of Syrian children at the third International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria held in Kuwait yesterday. International donors pledged $3.8bn at the conference to help alleviate war-torn Syria’s humanitarian crisis.
Foreign Minister H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah who represented Qatar in the conference said his country would be contributing to a sustainable education fund for Syrian children. The move, said the minister, would be aimed at preventing the emergence of a “lost generation” including two million children who are currently without schooling.
These children will tomorrow be swayed to join terrorist groups, he said. “We cannot let this happen,” said Al Attiyah.
The fund, he said, would be launched by Qatar and administered by UN agencies, including Unicef, among others.
Addressing the conference, Kuwait Emir H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah pledged $500m on behalf of his country to support the Syrian people and urged the UN Security Council to act and end the conflict politically.
He said the conference was held in the face of the “biggest humanitarian catastrophe witnessed by humanity in our contemporary history.”
Kuwait hosted the first and second pledging conferences in 2013 and 2014. The Emir said 90 percent of pledges made at the second conference were honoured.
“The frightening figures and documented data about the economic and social impact of the crisis, published lately by international organisations, based on research studies, reveal that destruction is the headline in every region in Syria, without exception,” said the Emir.
The Syrian economy suffered more than $200bn in losses, unemployment rate stands at 57 percent, while the life expectancy rate has dropped to 55 years, the rates of poverty have risen, and the number of Syrian refugees outside the country is 3.9 million people, the biggest refugee society in the world, said the Kuwaiti leader.
The crisis in Syria created safe havens for terrorist groups who use the state of instability to carry out their “sinister plans,” he added. Sheikh Sabah paid tribute to the five neighbouring countries — Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt — hosting some 3.9 million Syrian refugees and offering immense humanitarian and relief services, despite the heavy burden on their economies and security.
Addressing the closing session of the Third International Pledging Conference for Syria, UN chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed the promised funds as “very generous”, news agencies reported yesterday.
The amount almost equals the combined total of $3.9bn promised at the two previous conferences.
The European Union pledged nearly ¤1.1bn ($1.2bn), double the amount the bloc offered last year while the US pledged $507m and non-governmental organisations committed more than $500m.
Other major contributions came from Britain with $150 million, United Arab Emirates with $100m and Norway which promised $93m.
French state minister for development Annick Girardin said Paris pledged $22.7m (¤20m) in addition to $100m (¤87m) as part of the European pledge.
Jordan and Lebanon, which together host close to 2.5 million refugees, were represented by their premiers who appealed for international aid to help their economies cope with the tragedy.
Yesterday’s conference, attended by representatives from nearly 80 countries, was preceded by a meeting of charitable organisations, which pledged a total of $506m.
The United Nations has launched an appeal for $8.4bn in 2015 to fund its humanitarian operations in Syria, with $5.5bn intended for refugees and $2.9bn for people inside the war-ravaged country.
The Peninsula
