The UK is pledging up to £158 million to support vulnerable Syrians as the country’s humanitarian crisis continues to escalate.
The funding will be directed to meet UK’s four priorities:
- Scaling up the proportion of funds devoted to early recovery and resilience interventions inside Syria to support food production and livelihoods.
- Protecting women and girls from violence and promoting their right to, and role, in developing a lasting peace.
- Ensure people receive lifesaving assistance, preserve cross-border aid and improve delivery coordination.
- Addressing the deteriorating humanitarian and security situation in North East Syria by ensuring access and improved humanitarian service provision.
Across the region, the UK will continue to support Syria’s neighbours to deal with the impact of the conflict and help mitigate the significant challenges they face and ensure the Syrian refugees they host are protected.
The UK will call on the whole international community to continue to support Syria as it has done over the last 11 years. The humanitarian situation is getting worse and has been exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The UK will continue to play its role as one of the largest bilateral donors to the Syria Crisis, having spent over £3.7 billion to date – the UK’s largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. The UK Government is also supporting the UN-facilitated political process to reach a lasting settlement to the conflict as soon as possible which protects the rights of all Syrians.
Now in its twelfth year of conflict, humanitarian needs in Syria have reached an all-time high. Today, some 14.6 million people – 70 per cent of the country’s population – need help to meet their basic survival needs. At the same time, costs continue to soar, with the price of basic foodstuffs like bread, rice and oil almost doubling in the last year.
Despite an additional 1.2 million people in Syria requiring humanitarian aid in 2022, both levels of funding and the political attention required to address the crisis are diminishing. At the end of 2021, the humanitarian response for Syria remained less than half funded, with just 46 per cent of required funds committed – the lowest levels seen in six years.
Minister for the Middle East, Amanda Milling, said: “I am proud to announce the UK will pledge up to £158 million during the Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region conference in Brussels today. It is vital the international community collectively supports humanitarian efforts in Syria.
“The UK will continue playing a leading role to ensure the people of Syria are not forgotten and a lasting settle to the conflict is found that protects the rights of all Syrians.”
