The EU, the US and Kuwait have pledged more than $2bn of the $8.4bn the UN is appealing for to help tackle the dire humanitarian situation caused by the war in Syria as the country enters its fifth year of conflict.



Their respective pledges – for $1.2bn, $507m and $500m – were made at the opening of the third international donors’ conference for Syria, which is being hosted by Kuwait.

In his address to delegates, Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, described the Syrian conflict as “the biggest humanitarian crisis in recent history”.

According to UN estimates, the war has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced 11 million. Nearly 4 million Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries such as Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, where their presence is straining resources and host communities.

“The Syrian people’s plight has spilled over to hosting countries, exhausting their resources, and it is our role to support the host countries,” Sabah said.



The UN says $2.9bn is needed in 2015 for people inside Syria, and $5.5bn for those who have fled to the five surrounding countries.

Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told the conference the crisis was not going to end soon. “There will be at least five more years of intense humanitarian activity even if – in the best of cases – progress on a negotiated political settlement were immediate and substantive today,” he said.

Maurer, who described the war as “brutal and unrelenting”, called for a change of direction and greater respect for international humanitarian law.



“We need more room for a neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian action,” he said. “We need protection for the vulnerable and for medical services. Humanitarian workers must be able to carry out their work in safety. I ask all those with influence on the parties to the conflict to ensure respect for these vital rules.”

The UN high commissioner for refugees, António Guterres, said the situation for the Syrian people was “unsustainable”. He added that the current UN appeal differed from previous ones because it recognised both the immediate and the longer-term imperatives of responding to the crisis.

Ahead of this year’s gathering, the German government said it would pledge $277m in new aid. Kuwaiti state media said local charities and aid organisations pledged another $506m just before the conference started.



Gulf envoys addressing the conference said the United Arab Emirates pledged $100m, Saudi Arabia $60m, and Norway $93m.



At last year’s donors’ conference, about $2.4bn was pledged through the UN – well below the $6.5bn requested. In 2013, $1.5bn was pledged, less than half of the UN’s appeal for $4.4bn.

The UN humanitarian office’s Financial Tracking Service said in November that nearly a quarter of last year’s pledges, $585m, remained unfulfilled.



Some 78 countries and 40 international aid organisations are present at this year’s conference. Kuwait, consistently one of the largest donors at the conference, pledged $500m last year and $300m the year before that.

