“It means millions of people will now receive lifesaving food, medical care and shelter in Syria and beyond”. An estimated 4.6 million people have fled the war-torn country, and millions more are displaced inside the nation’s borders; some 250,000 have been killed, NPR’s Leila Fadel reports.
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Pledges of aid at the conference came as military bombardments in Syria intensified and tentative peace talks in Geneva were on hold.
Backed by a wave of Russian airstrikes, Syrian government forces have advanced this week against rebel positions on the road to the country’s second city Aleppo.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says his country will accept any Syrian refugees that come, in addition to the 2.5 million already in his country.
“We can provide the sense of hope needed to stop people thinking they have no option but to risk their lives on a unsafe journey to Europe”, British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement, announcing a new pledge of 1.2 billion pounds ($1.75 billion).
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon welcomed the generosity of the worldwide community and thanked the efforts of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey for hosting the refugees.
Secretary of State John Kerry pledged about $890 million in aid to Syria and neighboring countries on Thursday, a commitment that will maintain Washington’s position as the single biggest contributor of humanitarian assistance to the five-year civil war.
The same countries have also held back the support for Syrian refugees.
In 2016 alone, Jordan can expect to spend $2.7 billion on refugee assistance.
The Supporting Syria and the Region Conference – co-hosted by the UK, Germany, Norway, Kuwait and the United Nations – aims to raise billions of dollars in aid.
United Nations special envoy Staffan de Mistura issued a statement late Wednesday saying indirect talks would be temporarily paused until February 25, but could resume sooner.
After meeting King Salman and other leaders in Saudi Arabia, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the talks broke down “because of the military escalations by the regime”.
“This year there are more ambitious goals, which are to do more to educate children, to get jobs for the refugees, to bring development resources to bear, to help people get to safety not just in the region, but beyond as well”.
He said he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had spoken by phone Thursday and agreed to continue discussing “how to implement the cease-fire”.
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The ICRC said the town of 50,000 needs more aid, and it hoped to deliver it in the coming days. For example: Lebanon and Jordan, two countries with a collective Syrian refugee population of around 1.6 million, don’t allow a majority of these refugees to work legally, in part due to the lack of available jobs for their own citizens and fears that economic competition could lead to communal violence.
