LOC12:20
09:20 GMT
KUWAIT, March 31 (KUNA) -- UN agencies at international aid-pledging talks in Kuwait urged the need to respond to humanitarian needs as well as development needs amid a new approach to their efforts on the Syrian conflict.
In speeches at the Third International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria, dubbed Kuwait III, they expressed gratitude for His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah's gracious decision to host the talks for a third year in a row.
Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said that since the last conference in 2014 nations had hoped to meet again to rebuild Syria, but that unfortunately the nation is still witnessing conflict, violence and bloodshed.
Her visit to Syria in 2011 recorded one million displaced people, but today, she said this number has reached 11 million.
Inside Syria, four out five people live in poverty, while on infrastructure 80 percent of water sources have been affected leaving people with only half of their needs.
Some 400,000 people are living under siege as the government, which pleads innocence, continues to inundate them with barrel bombs, she added.
Around half of the Syrian children are not going to school, and this will leave behind a "lost generation" as women face the threat of rape, sexual abuse and sexual slavery on a daily basis.
She also noted to Palestinian refugees within Syria, as they face malnutrition - some 50 percent of whom have been displaced once again and continue to depend on the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
She also noted to the risks taken by humanitarians during their duty as 72 have been killed, including 42 from the Syrian Red Cross and Crescent Societies.
On a final note, she thanked the efforts of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and UN chief Humanitarian Envoy and Amiri Diwan Advisor Abdullah Al-Maatouq for their efforts on pressurizing nations to fulfill their pledges made at Kuwait II and I.
Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, who discussed refugees in neighbouring nations, proclaimed Turkey as the nation hosting the biggest number of refugees in the world - around four million.
This has placed huge burdens on the nation, as well as Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, he said, highlighting needs of neighbouring nations as a whole as USD 5.5 billion.
In Jordan, around a third of refugees live under extremely bad conditions and are living on aid.
Hosting nations need more assistance in order to cater to the education, drinking water and electricity needs of the refugees, he said.
Some 15,000 refugees attempted to cross the Mediterranean to flee to Europe - 500 of whom died, he said, calling on nations to open their borders to these refugees.
He also praised the efforts on Gulf countries particularly, which he said provided USD two billion in assistance to UN agencies in 2014.
On a final theme, he urged nations to unite under one banner, setting religious, ethnic and language differences aside and focus on the goal of assisting the Syrian people.
For her part, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark noted to the Syria Strategic Response and the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plans, which she said, are aimed at unifying humanitarian and development assistance.
Explaining, she said, this would focus on providing long-term well-revised strategies for humanitarian assistance in a sustainable manner. Along with the regional plan are individual plans from each nation, like Lebanon and Jordan, she said.
These host nations are requesting the aid based on these plans which specifically outline these needs and the sectors they should address.
She also pointed out to what she called resilience plans, which will build on the capabilities of these nations so that they may be able to benefit the refugee communities sustainably.
Clark said that the plans require private partnerships with companies, financial institutions and banks, adding that later talks are expected on the matter next month.
She went on to underline the fact that any apparent solution to the conflict, which has entered a fifth year, should be political but that at present there seems to be no looming solution. (pickup previous)
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