07 Mar 2015, 02:00 pm Print
“Lebanon has shown generosity in hosting some 1.2 million refugees from Syria. No country can handle such a burden on its own,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said in a press release issued following her recent visit to the Middle Eastern country.
She said, “I hope that in the upcoming Kuwait 3 pledging conference support will be given to Lebanon to assist the Government in meeting the needs of the most vulnerable Lebanese and refugees from Syria.”
According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Lebanon is the country with the highest ratio of refugees per capita in the world and is increasingly beleaguered as the Syrian crisis stretches into its fifth year.
During her visit to Lebanon, Amos met with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and assured him that the UN is committed to supporting the country’s stability by scaling up international assistance and implementing the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan, which aims to deliver protection and humanitarian assistance to displaced Syrian families and encourages investment in Lebanese social services.
“Humanitarian workers in Syria are supporting people caught between the warring parties, and who continue to be subjected to extreme violence and brutality,” Amos continued.
The Lebanon Crisis Response Plan will also help provide a boost to assistance already funded by the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) which covers humanitarian work throughout the Middle East and beyond.
The remainder is to be spread between Lebanon, which receives $18 million, Jordan and Turkey, receiving $9 million each, Iraq, which is allocated $8 million, and Egypt, where $3.5 million will be channelled.
Photo: OCHA/D. Palanivelu