The Foreign Ministry’s Secretary General, HE Dr Ahmed bin Hassan al-Hammadi, stressed that Qatar spared no effort to stand by the Syrian people in their predicament and to carry out its humanitarian duties in a responsible manner as it provided financial and in-kind assistance to them amounting to $2.4bn since the beginning of the crisis.
Addressing the 11th meeting of top Syria donors in Doha yesterday, Dr al-Hammadi said the contributions came through the government, civil society and charity groups in order to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people domestically as well as refugees in neighbouring countries.
He commended the efforts of the countries that have provided appropriate conditions and made fruitful efforts to help the refugees.
Regarding Qatar’s support for the Syrian people, Dr al-Hammadi underlined the directives of the wise leadership, according to the State’s National Day celebrations on December18, 2016 were cancelled in solidarity with the people of Aleppo who were subjected to the most extreme forms of repression, displacement and genocide at the time. A huge donations campaign was organised, collecting about $330mn which led to Qatar’s receiving of a letter of thanks from the United Nations.
Dr al-Hammadi highlighted Qatar’s pledge during its participation in chairing the international Syria donors’ conference in April 2016 in Brussels to provide $100mn out of $6bn that were pledged during the event.
It also hosted in the same month a regional conference that included the United Nations and 25 non-government and regional organisations, resulting in $262mn in financial pledges.
In July, Doha organised a third co-ordination meeting to support the Syrian people, which resulted in pledges of $80.5mn, he said, adding that Qatar also launched initiatives in the areas of education and vocational training in partnership with regional and international humanitarian organisations to educate and train Syrian refugees, benefiting 400,000 children over five years.
In addition, the Educate A Child initiative has benefited some 985,000 children besides the government’s reunification of thousands of Syrians with their families residing in Qatar.
Dr al-Hammadi said that what the Syrian people have been subjected to cannot be allowed to continue, calling for action to change and stop the situation immediately and restore security, stability and a decent life for the fraternal Syrian people.
The top donors group’s meeting opened under the chairmanship of the UN Secretary-Generals Humanitarian Envoy, HE Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Muraikhi.
The meeting discussed the mechanisms to achieve the pledges made by donor countries in previous meetings, especially the Brussels conference.
Dr al-Muraikhi called on donors to focus not only on financial commitments, in which donors have made significant strides, but also on non-financial pledges and consideration of future needs.



Related Story