EU pledges extra $1.06B in support for Syrian people for 2022

BRUSSELS

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell pledged on Tuesday an extra €1 billion ($1.06 billion) support for the Syrian people for this year at the Brussels Syria Conference.

“I am pleased to announce an additional €1 billion aid for the calendar year of 2022,” Borrell said at his opening speech at the 6th Brussels conference supporting the future of Syria.

The new pledge brings up the bloc’s total contribution to €1.56 billion ($1.65 billion).

“Even if Syria is not anymore on the front pages,” the need for humanitarian assistance “remains enormous,” Borrell stressed.

He pointed out that 92% of the Syrian people living in their home country face poverty, and around 60% of them face food insecurity “barely knowing where the next meal is going to come from.”

Borrell also drew attention to the needs of around 7 million Syrian refugees living in Turkiye, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq.

“I would like to acknowledge the sustained generosity demonstrated by the governments to the refugee populations, even the integration and tensions is a heavy burden,” he said.

He underlined that the survival of millions in Syria depends on continued cross-border assistance from Turkiye.

The EU will work with Ankara “and others and to renew vital cross-border solutions assuring the delivery of humanitarian assistance,” Borrell pointed out.

Governments, international organizations, and agencies, as well as regional organizations and representatives of civil society, participate in the donor conference held on Monday and Tuesday.

Last year, the international community pledged in total €5.3 million (currently around $5.7 million) of aid for Syrian and neighboring countries hosting refugees.

Syria has been in civil war since early 2011 when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.

Over 400,000 people were killed, and more than 12 million needed to flee their homes becoming refugees or internally displaced over the past 10 years, according to the EU.

Turkiye is the largest host country for Syrian refugees and provides international protection to nearly 4 million people who fled the neighboring country.