Christian Aid has welcomed the commitments made at the ‘Supporting Syria and the Region’ conference hosted by the United Kingdom, Germany, Kuwait, Norway and the United Nations.
However, although a record $10 billion has been pledged in humanitarian aid, Christian Aid says that real relief will only happen when the bombs stop.
Frances Guy, Christian Aid’s Head of Middle East Region said: ‘For Syrian refugees who rely on food baskets and vouchers from the World Food Programme it will be a relief to know that Germany has already pledged to fund half of the money that is needed for these distributions for this year.
‘It will be a relief to Syrian parents who are living in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey to know that their children should now have the opportunity to be in education. Some Syrians in those countries can now hope that they may be able to work legally and earn a living which will support their families. We must now work with these countries to ensure that these pledges are acted upon.
‘However, for those who live under the daily threat of bombardment from all sides inside Syria and for those Syrians who are besieged and relying on very infrequent aid distributions, there will be no relief.’
Christian Aid says the plea from the International Red Cross must be answered: find a political solution urgently and lift all sieges immediately.
There is a report on the international conference on Syria from the UN News Centre.
