Over £2 billion pledged for aid to Syria in Kuwait
The international community has pledged £2.6 billion to help the people of Syria at a United Nations conference in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti International Pledging Conference for Syria, now in its third year, is a major United Nations conference aiming to gather aid for Syrians.
The biggest single donation on the day came from the United States, who pledged £342 million, whilst the EU states and the European commission pledged a total of nearly £810 million.
The money will go to support aid work in Syria and neighbouring countries, where over 12 million people are now in need of humanitarian aid.
However the amount pledged fell short of the £5.6 billion campaigners, including Islamic Relief, asked for. In a letter to the Guardian newspaper yesterday, Islamic Relief’s CEO Dr Mohamed Ashmawey was one of over 20 charity leaders urging the UK government and other donors to respond generously at the conference.
So far around 220,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, which has now entered its fifth year. There are nearly four million refugees in neighbouring countries and four out of five Syrians now live in poverty. One family flee Syria every minute to seek shelter elsewhere. Life expectancy has dropped by 20 years and 40 years of development have been lost.
We have been working in areas of conflict for decades, providing vital humanitarian assistance to those whose lives have been torn apart. In Syria, we have provided support to over 2 million Syrians, and supported hundreds of thousands of refugees in neighbouring countries. Donate to our Global Emergencies Fund today so this important work can continue.