Britain pledges extra 1.2bn for Syria before donor conference

Britain pledged on Thursday to spend an additional 1.2 billion pounds ($1.75 billion) on aid for Syrians by 2020, doubling its current financial commitment of 1.1 billion sterling.

"We can provide the sense of hope needed to stop people thinking they have no option but to risk their lives on a dangerous journey to Europe," British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement announcing the new pledge.

The extra money, to be spent between 2016 and 2020, will go towards job creation and education in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

In the statement, Cameron said he hoped the huge increase in aid for Syria would persuade other countries to do their bit and also significantly boost their spending.

‘With hundreds of thousands of people risking their lives crossing the Aegean or the Balkans, now is the time to take a new approach to the humanitarian disaster in Syria,’ he said.

‘Today’s pledge of more than £2.3billion in UK aid sets the standard for the international community – more money is needed to tackle this crisis and it is needed now.

‘But the conference I am hosting today is about more than just money. Our new approach of using fundraising to build stability, create jobs and provide education can have a transformational effect in the region and create a future model for humanitarian relief.

The new pledge coincides with today’s conference, called Supporting Syria and the Region, which is co-hosted by Britain with Germany, Norway, Kuwait and the United Nations.

It will aim to raise billions of dollars in international aid, with the current UN appeal standing at £5.4billion.

With Syria's five-year-old civil war raging and U.N.-mediated peace talks in Geneva halted after just a few days amid acrimony between government and opposition negotiators, the one-day London conference will try to tackle dire humanitarian needs.

The war has killed an estimated 250,000 people and driven millions from their homes, with 6 million Syrians displaced within the country and more than 4 million others having left for Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and beyond.

U.N. agencies are appealing for $7.73 billion to cope with the disaster this year, with a further $1.2 billion needed to fund national response plans by countries in the region.

The conference will focus particularly on the need to provide an education for displaced Syrian children and job opportunities for adults, reflecting growing recognition that the fallout from the Syrian war will be very long-term.

Source: MENA