The third Brussels Ministerial Conference ‘Supporting the future of Syria and the region’ ended on Thursday, 14 March with a success, in terms of expressing international solidarity with the Syrian population and refugee host communities, said the UN and the EU, as co-chairs (see EUROPE 12210/17).
Pledges for humanitarian aid and resilience collectively total €6.2 billion for 2019 and €2.37 billion for 2020 and beyond, announced the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, at the end of the donors' conference. The EU and its Member States, for their part, have pledged €6.79 billion, two thirds of the total pledges announced. Of this amount, €2.57 billion will come from the EU budget and €4.22 billion from the Member States.
The Commissioner thanked all participants for "this record solidarity", calling for "now to move quickly to action - to effective and transparent actions to serve the interests of the most vulnerable citizens wherever they are", in Syria or in Lebanon, in Jordan, in Turkey, in Iraq, in Egypt.
"On the UN side, we are already delighted", said Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA), thanking the support that will “save millions of lives and protect citizens”. He stressed the importance of ensuring unhindered humanitarian access, as requested by all participants.
“While it is important to recognise that the majority of Syrians live outside conflict zones, their degree of resilience must be strengthened”, he added, taking his hat off to the host countries of refugees who “for 9 years have shown enormous generosity, protecting them, giving them access to public services, but also to their economy”.
The UN had estimated the needs for 2019 at €4.4 billion for refugee assistance and €2.9 billion for the more than 6 million Syrians displaced in their country.
But donors favour multi-year funding for refugees and host communities.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, a few hours earlier, had expressed her pride in being able to confirm €560 million in annual aid for 2019 and her commitment to an annual amount for 2020 and 2021 for Syrians and refugee host countries, mainly in Jordan and Lebanon and more than €1.5 billion for the second tranche of the EU Refugee Facility in Turkey.
“The EU and its Member States have invested €17 billion since the beginning of the war in 2011 to help Syrians and their host communities. The EU will continue to honour its commitments”, she said. 11.7 million Syrians still need assistance. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)