Ban Ki-moon åbnede donorkonferencen i Kuwait med en appel om et beløb, der er fire gange så stort som sidste års appel. ”Jeg har kun skam, dyb vrede og frustration over det internationale samfunds magtesløshed,” siger Ban.
31 March 2015 (UN News): Syrians are suffering through the worst humanitarian crisis of our time, regional stability is buckling under the weight of despair and children are suffering on a scale that “haunts the soul,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today at the Third International Pledging Conference in Kuwait, appealing for $8.4 billion, almost four times the amount asked for last year.
“I have only shame and deep anger and frustration at the international community’s impotence to stop the war,” said Mr. Ban, pointing out that nearly five million Syrians are still trapped without food or medical help in hard-to-reach or besieged areas.
“We have seen the consequences of underfunding: They are catastrophic, leaving neighbouring countries on their own as they struggle to provide for refugees while meeting their own development needs,” he added.
A lost generation in Syria
Mr. Ban is in Kuwait City to oversee the Third International Humanitarian Pledging Conference, which aims to mobilize donor support and raise funds to meet the needs set out in the 2015 Syria Response Plan and the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) 2015-2016.
By conservative estimates, more than 220,000 Syrians have died from the conflict, but that number is likely much higher.
Four out of five live in poverty and the country has lost nearly four decades of human development, with unemployment at over 50 per cent.
Life expectancy has been cut by 20 years.
“That is why the 2015 appeals amount to $8.4 billion,” the Secretary-General urged.
“Young girls and boys have been systematically killed, injured and displaced,” he emphasized, warning that the millions of children out of school are creating a “lost generation” of Syrians.
“I often think back on my visits in recent years to refugee camps in Turkey, Jordan and Iraq. Children ask: Why am I here? What did I do wrong? When can I go home?” Mr. Ban recalled.
Neighbouring countries stretched to the limit
Nearly half of the country has been forced to flee their homes.
Almost four million people have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. Palestinian refugees in Syria are facing extreme hardship and most of them have been displaced yet again.
Governments throughout the region have opened “their doors, their hearts and their wallets” to Syrian families running for their lives but are now stretched to the limit, he added.
Meanwhile, despite threats and attacks on aid workers, UN agencies continue to provide life-saving assistance through cross-border assistance. But all this is not nearly enough.
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