GENEVA, March 29 (KUNA) -- The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) hoped upcoming donors' meeting for Syrian people, due in Kuwait in two days, would establish long-term partnerships between donors and global charities to give hope for people in Syria, specially children.
"We are at the threshold of the Third International Conference which aims at getting financial pledges for the humanitarian efforts related to the Syrian crisis.
"This conference is hosted by His Highness the Amir of the State of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who offered a generous support for the International Movement of Red Cross and Crescent Societies in the past," ICRC said in a report, sent to KUNA, ahead of the March 31 International Pledging Conference for the Syrian people.
If the conference, also known as Kuwait III, succeeded in establishing long-term partnerships between the donors and the International Movement, said the report, "this will be another sign of hope for every child born in any part of this region." The Syrian conflict broke out in March 2011 and is already in its fifth year now. The bloody crisis killed more than 220,000 people and wounded many more others. It also forced some seven million people to be internally displaced and four million others refugees in neighboring countries.
The ICRC has been struggling to honor needs of the Syrian people in different parts of the country, particularly in the northern cit of Aleppo, where the ICRC and the Syrian Red Crescent were joining hands to provide power generators for the areaآ’s only children hospital thus providing electricity for incubators housing newborns.
Volunteers challenged the snipers on roof tops to help restore electricity in the city, said ICRC. It was very risky but "saved many people." No one can deprive a couple from having babies, even in Syria, but the horizons in the conflict-ridden country for every child are "grim and dark." In Aleppo, for example, a child will grow up surrounded by rubble caused by months of fierce fighting, and this childآ’s nights would be marred with sounds of shells and bullets.
IF this child manages to escape outside the country, said the ICRC, he would join four million refugees in neighboring countries or be among seven million people searching for safe havens within conflict-torn Syria.
ICRC pointed out that the medical services are declining, the economy is devastated already, more people are losing jobs everyday, hospitals were either closed or destroyed and the doctors were either killed or fled. This is added to daily suffering of every family, food and water shortage.
The International Movement teams were working hard to fix water pumps, distribute fresh drinking water bottles for 16 million Syrians and importing power cables to replace the damaged ones.
ICRC said between 70,000-100,000 people in Aleppo have their limps amputated since the beginning of the conflict, each of them need a physical and psychological rehabilitation, thus there were needs for wheelchairs and artificial limps.
ICRC and the Syrian Red Crescent will have two large clinics by summer to provide treatment and artificial limps, noted the report.
The International Movement has been leading negotiations with all parties in Syria with the objective of providing assistance for the needy inside the country and in refugee camps in neighboring nations.
Governments and citizens of neighboring countries have been very generous with the refugees who only want this conflict to end as fast as possible so they can go back to their homes.
"However the conflict will not stop tomorrow and we are now planning for long-term, and expect intensive humanitarian work for at least five years," said the ICRC report. (end) bs