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QNA
Doha
Humanitarian organisations pledged about $262 million in aid for Syrians at the Consultative Meeting of Humanitarian Organisations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Syria's neighbouring countries in Doha on Sunday.
About 40 participants including the United Nations and 25 non-governmental organisations from across the region attended the meeting.
The meeting came ahead of a two-day European Union conference on war-torn Syria on April 4-5 in Belgium.
United Nations Secretary-General's Humanitarian Envoy HE Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Muraikhi told the meeting that Syria faces a huge humanitarian crisis which requires up to $8 billion in aid for the current year.
He said 13.5 million people in Syria need humanitarian assistance barring the 8.4 million people forced to take shelter in neighbouring countries.
Participants agreed that the"Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region" will be held at the critical phase of the Syrian crisis, in light of serious developments marked by accelerated military operation and new events on the ground.
The final communique issued at the end of the meeting condemned the destruction of assets and property on which the population relies for survival as an example of flagrant violation of humanitarian norms.
The communique expressed concern over the difficult choices that the victims of the crisis have to endure, including fleeing to neighbouring countries or seeking asylum in other countries.
The communique warned of grave humanitarian consequences of these demographic changes not only in the near and intermediate terms but also in the long term if they are enshrined as a de facto situation.
The participants recommended a comprehensive review of the humanitarian response efforts in Syria to draw the most important lessons from the Syrian refugee crisis, the worst since World War II.
They urged an immediate response to the medium and long-term future needs based on principles of aid effectiveness and effective use of resources.
They also called to adopt a shared vision which gives priority to enhancing capabilities of the Syrian people to face this humanitarian crisis and support humanitarian initiatives aimed at promoting self-sufficiency of the Syrian society.
They expressed concern over the systematic demographic change in some areas"predicting a long-term humanitarian disaster" and calling for a halt to systematic displacement of Syrian people and support of refugees and displaced persons to return when displacement ends.
The communique also called upon all parties, especially the government, to exert more efforts to prevent the politicisation of humanitarian action in Syria, facilitate access to beneficiaries in safe conditions and remove all obstacles to financial transfers.
