EU pledges nearly USD 1.6bn in humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees

Brussels [Belgium], May 10 (ANI/Sputnik): The European Union has pledged to increase humanitarian assistance to Syrians up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.58 billion) for 2022 and to allocate an equal amount following year, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday.
On Monday, the sixth European Union's Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region kicked off in Brussels, with the purpose of harnessing international support for Syrians who keep facing dire humanitarian crisis both in Syria and abroad. The core pledging event is taking place on the conference's final day on Tuesday during the EU ministerial meeting.
"I am pleased to announce that an additional 1 billion euro pledge for a calendar year of 2022 and this will make collated our contribution to more than 1.5 billion euros. For 2023, the EU will provide the same financial support -- 1.56 billion euros. This funding will be for the benefit of Syrians in Syria and for the benefit of refugees in their host communities in the region," Borrell said, addressing the ministerial meeting.
According to the EU pre-conference brief, last year the bloc allocated $3.9 billion in humanitarian and resilience assistance to Syria. Furthermore, since 2011, when the Syrian war broke out, the EU, as the world's largest donor, has provided nearly $29 billion to the most vulnerable Syrians in the country and Syrian refugees throughout the region.
For 11 years, the protracted Syrian crisis has placed an estimated 14.6 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance, including 5.6 million refugees forced to flee Syria to neighboring states and 6.9 million internally displaced people, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. Turkey bears the heaviest burden, currently hosting more than 3.7 million Syrians, followed by Lebanon and Jordan, which are sheltering over 800,000 and 650,000 Syrians, respectively. (ANI/Sputnik)