Unicef calls for UAE Government to be part of its biggest fundraising bid

Unicef is seeking US$835 million (Dh3.07 billion) for next year to supply vaccinations, sanitation, education and counselling to 5.4 million Syrian children affected by the country’s civil war.

Syrian children displaced by the conflict, such as this youngster in Arsal in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley this week, are being targeted in the aid drive. AFP

DUBAI // The UAE and other governments in the region are being urged to contribute to one of the biggest aid campaigns launched by a United Nations body.

Unicef, the UN’s children’s fund, is seeking US$835 million (Dh3.07 billion) for next year to supply vaccinations, sanitation, education and counselling to 5.4 million Syrian children affected by the country’s civil war.

The figure is almost double the Dh1.72bn raised last year for a much smaller programme.

“In less than a year, we have seen huge increases in the number of children in need,” said Juliette Touma, a Unicef spokeswoman.

“The needs are such that the amount we are asking for is actually a conservative figure.”

The UAE has donated more than $35.4m to Syria through several avenues over the past year.

One of the largest individual donations was $10m from Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, widow of the founding President, Sheikh Zayed, towards the Big Heart for Syrian Refugee Children campaign.

Although the country contributed much-needed vaccines to Unicef this year, it did not provide a donation to the organisation’s last fund-raising bid in January.

“We do hope they [the UAE] will [contribute] this year, since we’re asking for nearly double what we asked for last year,” Ms Touma said.

“We are hoping we meet our funding goals, not just from governments in the region which is very appreciated and very much needed, but also from individuals and the private sector.

“We really need every penny we can get.”

She said the funding goals were the largest set by Unicef in its 67 years.

“This is the biggest fund-raising effort in the history of the United Nations,” Ms Touma said.

“It is certainly the biggest operation that we’ve ever taken on in terms of the scale of response, the number of children in need, the supplies we’re buying and personnel on the ground.”

The number of beneficiaries are 4.2 million children in Syria and 1.2 million child refugees in Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and northern Iraq.

That total number of children in need of help, 5.4 million, is more than half of the UAE’s 8.2 million population.

But the programme is even wider in scope. An outbreak of polio in Syria, after having disappeared for 14 years, has authorities worried.

To avoid a possible pandemic of the highly infectious disease throughout the region, Unicef is proposing a widespread vaccination of 2.2 million children in Syria and as many as 23.7 million Syrian and non-Syrian children across the Middle East.

“This is an emergency within an emergency,” said Ms Touma. “Polio has become a priority for us.

“It’s a disease that spreads quickly so we want to do everything we can to contain it as quickly as possible.”

She said the vaccination campaign was one of the largest conducted, and the logistical challenges were compounded by the situation in the region.

“Doing it inside Syria is a whole story in itself,” she said. “It’s difficult enough doing a vaccination on this scale, but doing it in a country that is going through a civil war makes it double, if not triple the challenge.”

Ms Touma said a key plank in the strategy was ensuring access to education for the three million children in Syria who did not have it.

“The picture of children’s access to education is quite grim,” she said. “The conflict is getting into its fourth year and some children have missed out on at least three years of education.

“If we don’t intervene now to rescue their education, there’s a risk that these children could become a lost generation.”

To donate, visit www.unicef.org.