Sir, – Monday (March 20th) marks a crucial day for those of us invested in securing a better future for the beleaguered Syrian people. The European Commission and the Swedish presidency of the Council of the European Union will jointly host an international donor conference, open to EU member states, candidate countries, international organisations, humanitarian bodies, and international and European financial institutions.
Conference participants will be briefed on how the EU urgently allocated funds to affected populations following the recent devastating earthquakes, while also formulating new plans for how national, European, and international organisations can facilitate a better future for a people beset by perpetual crises.
The EU will rally all international partners and global donors to ramp up solidarity and action to tackle this incredibly fragile and challenging context and endeavour to mobilise pledges in line with the scale and magnitude of the horrific damage that these earthquakes have caused.
This vital conference comes against the backdrop of the 12th anniversary of Syria’s brutal civil war and all its complex consequences.
To date, this appalling conflict has led to the deaths of more than half a million people and fuelled one of history’s largest and most protracted forced displacement crises, which surrounding countries continue to grapple with today.
Since 2011, more than six million Syrians have fled their homeland to escape the conflict, and over 6.9 million people have been displaced within the country, many of them multiple times over.
Over 14 million people across Syria rely on humanitarian assistance to survive, with the global impact of the pandemic and rising inflation, placing more people in severe need, even before last month’s earthquakes struck.
These catastrophic earthquakes have compounded what was already an extremely dire humanitarian crisis, with an official death toll of 4,500 deaths likely far short of the true figure – 1.9 million people live in displacement camps or informal settlements where the earthquakes struck in northwest Syria, the majority of whom are women and children.
In the cities of Idleb and Aleppo, over 10,000 buildings have been completely or partially destroyed.
As a result of the damage, at least 86,000 people are reportedly newly displaced.
In this context, this international donor conference provides a unique opportunity for the international community to demonstrate their commitment to those enduring this relentless, bewildering crisis in Syria.
We are appealing to national governments, including our own, to grasp this opportunity. – Yours, etc,
MARY VAN LIESHOUT,
Director,
External Affairs,
Goal,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.