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Syria
Syrian Kurds wait as they cross the border between Syria and Turkey. Photo via AFP / Bulent Kilic
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Japan’s contribution of $14 million to humanitarian missions in northeast Syria is to “alleviate the suffering of the recently displaced people,” according to a senior Japanese official in Syria.
The Japanese foreign ministry said on Tuesday that the country has decided to offer Emergency Grant Aid of $14 million “in response to the humanitarian crisis in north-eastern Syria.”
“The grant is to provide humanitarian assistance in the areas of WASH, health, provision of shelter, blankets and tents, and coordination, through four international organizations,” according to a press release on the ministry’s website.
Akira Endo, Special Coordinator for Syria and Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of Japan in Syria, was quoted yesterday in a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) press release as saying “Japan places a high priority on providing humanitarian assistance to support vulnerable people, including women, children and elderly, regardless of where they are in Syria.”
“This assistance reiterates Japan’s strong and faithful commitment to addressing [the] urgent needs of the displaced people in north-east Syria,” he added. “We strongly hope our contribution will alleviate the suffering of the recently displaced people.”
The UNHCR will receive $6.2 million of the contribution, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) will receive $2.8 million, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will receive $0.4 million and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will receive $4.6 million, according to the statement from the Japanese foreign ministry.
Millions of Syrians have been displaced within Syria and to neighboring countries since the rise of Syrian unrest in 2011. Most recently, hundreds of thousands of Kurdish residents of Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad) were displaced by Operation Peace Spring, the Turkish invasion of northern Syria launched on October 9.
Turkey’s attack against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria has led to the displacement of about 400,000 people, according to an SDF spokesperson.
“Nearly 400,000 displaced persons from Sari Kani and Gire Spi have been sheltered across schools in Kobane, Raqqa, Hasaka, and Qamishli. This is a genocide and a very dangerous demographic change,” Mustafa Bali, head of the SDF media office, told Rudaw on December 9.
Thousands of other Kurdish residents of northern Syria have fled across the border to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
UNHCR Syria Representative Ayaki Ito was quoted in yesterday's press release as saying that northeast Syria is experiencing a “humanitarian crisis.”
“We have witnessed a humanitarian crisis with more than 73,000 people who remain displaced in north-east Syria,” he said.
“More than 1.8 million people remain in dire need of humanitarian assistance in collective shelters, IDP sites, spontaneous settlements and host communities. We thank the people of Japan for their timely contribution to help us respond to urgent life-saving needs,” added Ito.
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