UN Humanitarian Chief welcomes donor pledge of $4.4 bln to help affected people in Syria and the region in 2018 [EN/AR]

(Brussels, 25 April 2018): The international community gathered at the second Brussels conference on Supporting the future of Syria and the region today confirmed US$4.4 billion in funding to support life-saving humanitarian aid as well as resilience and development activities to millions of affected people in Syria and the region this year.

Thirty-six donors at the conference, co-hosted by the European Union and the United Nations, made pledges towards the UN-coordinated Syria Humanitarian Response Plan, the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan, the ICRC Syria Crisis appeals and other activities. Pledges also included support to Palestinian refugees in Syria.

"The pledges announced today are a good start," UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said in Brussels. "In an ideal world, we would have liked to raise even more money and we do expect to receive additional funding this year. The money that donors generously provide makes a real difference to the lives of Syrians caught up in this horrible crisis."

The international community also confirmed $3.4 billion in funding for humanitarian, resilience and development activities in 2019 to 2020 for the Syria crisis response.

The Syria crisis is the world's largest protection and displacement crisis and 13.1 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection inside the country. Over 5.6 million Syrians have fled the country mainly to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt.

The UN coordinates two international appeals in response to the Syria crisis. The plan for response inside Syria require US$3.6 billion to provide life-saving assistance and protection for 13.1 million people. The regional refugee and resilience response plan requires $5.6 billion to assist over nine million people with protection, humanitarian and resilience support in the neighbouring countries.

For further information, please call:
Jens Laerke, OCHA Geneva, laerke@un.org , Tel. + +41 22 917 11 42, Cell: +41 79 472 9750 OCHA press releases are available at www.unocha.org or www.reliefweb.int