In London the United Nations, the UK Prime Minister, German Chancellor Angela Merkel together with Kuwait and Norway try to fund the UN activities in Syria and Iraq as hosts of the “Syria Donors Conference 2016”.
A very good initiative, late, but with too little support from several governments all over the world.
8,4 billon dollars are needed in 2016. Only 3,3 were available until today for the UN. In London much money was promised.
Most nations hesitated to fund food, water, shelter for the 4,2 millions refugees outside who live in simple camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Much more is needed to rebuild villages and cities inside Syria, where another 13,5 million have no home, no hope, no future. What a shame game!
First results of funding in 2016 and beyond:
- Germany promised today to spend $ 1,2 billion in 2016 and in total 2,6 billion until 2018. As well 1,900 scholarships for students.
- The United Kingdom will add $ 1,7 billion until 2020
- The EU has pledged a very large support of $ 3.3 billion
- The United States disappointing merely $ 925 million.
- Where Japan? South Korea? Saudi Arabia? Russia? China? Qatar or UAE?
London was a success- at the end, but this is not enough.
We need more and sufficient funding to stop the brutal Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) in Syria and Iraq and the flood of refugees into Europe.
Until now we do not use our vastly superior financial resources as needed.
This seems absurd in a confrontation with the richest terror organization ever, which commands an annual income of close to one billion USD per year.
The real need is not even $8 billion in 2016, but around $50 billion for the next three years, 17 billion each year. To feed the millions of refugees and build-up the villages and cities and infrastructure, a safe heavens in Syria and Iraq.
These necessary resources for a re-construction should be collected from the United States (10 bn), the European countries (10bn), but must also come from Japan (5bn), South Korea (5bn), Russia (2bn) the Gulf states (13bn) and China (5bn).
This amount should be collected now, pooled and channeled towards 20 actions and the support of the millions of refugees.
Let us start today.
Until now the Western strategy has been financially impotent.
Even the UN does not have enough cash to support the refugees.
In a joint announcement on the Syria Donors Conference 2016 the leaders of the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Kuwait and the United Nations told in November 2015 that they all are “increasingly concerned about the plight of the Syrian people.” Their statement demands:
“We have been at the forefront of global efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to those displaced by the conflict.
The international community has a responsibility to help the 13.5 million vulnerable and displaced people inside Syria, and the 4.2 million Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries and we must step up our efforts.
Current funding to the 2015 UN appeals has not even reached last year’s levels – $3.3 billion against an appeal of $8.4 billion. As an international community, we must do more.
Now is the time to act. So we will together host a conference on the Syria humanitarian crisis in London in early February 2016, building on previous conferences in Kuwait.
We will invite leaders from countries around the world, NGOs and civil society to come together to:
- raise significant new funding to meet the needs of all those affected by the Syria crisis within the country itself and by supporting neighbouring countries who have shown enormous generosity in hosting refugees to cope with the impact of the crisis.
- identify long term funding solutions, covering 2016 and subsequent years.
- address the longer term needs of those affected by the crisis by identifying ways to create jobs and provide education, offering all those that have been forced to flee their homes greater hope for the future.
- The Syria Donors Conference will also pave the way for a broader discussion about how the international community responds to protracted crises, in advance of the UK, UN and World Bank High-Level Forum on Forced Displacement in Protracted Crises later in 2016 and the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul in May.
- We continue to believe that a political solution is necessary to bring the Syrian conflict to an end and we commit to working with each other and international partners to achieve that and to support the development of an inclusive, peaceful and prosperous Syria.”