Egypt's Assistant Foreign Minister for Arab Affairs Abdul Rahman Salah on Tuesday called on the international community to provide direct aid to governments of the host countries of the Syrian refugees.
The Foreign Ministry, in cooperation with the United Nations, hosted a conference to launch Egypt's chapter of the regional response plan for Syrian refugees in the host countries 2015-2016.
Representatives of the UNHCR, UNDP, UNICIF, WHO and UNFPA and officials of the Egyptian ministries of health, education and higher education, along with Arab, US and EU ambassadors in Cairo took part in the conference.
"In spite of the already strained Egyptian economy and infrastructure over the last three years, the Egyptian people and government took a decision since the beginning of the refugee crisis to provide our Syrian brothers with full and free access to the same public services rendered to Egyptians. The same health care, education and higher education, which are massively subsidized and are often provided virtually free of charge," Salah said.
"Consequently, Egypt has the highest enrollment rates of the Syrian refugee children with 39,314 school students and almost 14,000 university students registered this year," he added.
"The Syrian conflict has caused the largest population displacement of our time and has had unprecedented social and economic impact on countries in the region. The scale and protracted nature of the crisis is challenging the ability of international partners to meet the continuing life saving humanitarian aid and address economic and social needs," UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt Anita Nirody said.
"It is therefore imperative that humanitarian and development approaches are integrated to build the resilience of individuals, communities and institutions in the affected countries."
The Egypt appeal is addressing some of the needs of almost six million people; including an estimated 300,000 Syrian refugees (136,254 of whom are registered with UNHCR) living in the most impacted areas in Egypt, as well as the most affected communities hosting them.
The government of Egypt, the United Nations, and their partners are appealing for almost US $380 million to cover both the refugee and resilience components in 2015.
The crisis has exacerbated pre-existing vulnerabilities in the impacted communities and has put pressure on the local economy, especially in education and health services.
The Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan originally launched in Berlin in December 2014, represents a strategic shift in the approach to delivering aid for the region. The two-year plan (2015 – 2016) brings together emergency humanitarian operations and host community support with longer-term programmes aimed at boosting resilience.