European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock (L) and UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura (R) appeal for funds to help Syrian refugees displaced by the seven-year war. Geert Vanden Wijngaert / AP
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock (L) and UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura (R) appeal for funds to help Syrian refugees displaced Show more

Syria appeal falls short of UN target



An appeal for international aid to help desperate Syrians who have fled the country during the seven-year war has fallen short of its target despite warnings that millions face a lifetime marred by extreme poverty, humanitarian officials said on Wednesday.

The United Nations humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said that he expected international donors to pledge $4.4 billion for Syria and its neighbours for 2018 to help the victims of the world’s largest refugee crisis.

“We’ve made a good start,” he told reporters during the two-day conference in Brussels despite the pledges short of the UN’s $7 billion target. They amounted to less than half of the $9.7 billion pledged at a similar conference last year for 2017-18.

“We would like our appeal today to have been fully funded,” he said. “We’re talking about a large sum of money and there’s a lot of pressure on the financiers.”

The pledges came despite warnings from the UN’s refugee agency that the majority of refugees in Jordan and Lebanon were living below the poverty line and unable to pay for basic education and medical needs.

Some 500,000 people have died in the conflict, while more than 5.6 million Syrians have been driven into prolonged exile outside of the country.

In Lebanon, some 60 per cent of the nearly one million registered Syrian refugees live on less than $2.90 a day, according to the agency.

Saad Hariri, the Lebanese prime minister, told the conference that the plight of Syrians was getting worse. “The bitter truth is that despite all our combined efforts conditions have deteriorated,” he said. “Lebanon continues to be a big refugee camp.”

Despite the worsening conditions, officials said they were barely maintaining the level of help they were able provide last year. More than 13 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance because of the war.

The EU, UK and Germany were among the major contributors of the 85 countries attending the meeting on Wednesday that was jointly hosted by the UN and the EU. Germany pledged $1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) for 2018 and subsequent years.

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Staffan de Mistura, the UN’s special envoy to Syria, warned on Tuesday of a looming new crisis among the 2.5 population of Idlib in the country’s northwest, following the fall of eastern Ghouta to regime forces.

The EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called on Iran, Russia and Turkey to use their influence with the regime of Bashar Al Assad to call a ceasefire as the prelude to a political deal that would end the suffering of the Syrian people.

The EU and a number of other countries have refused to rebuild to Syria until the start of meaningful peace moves to end the conflict.

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Company: Bidzi

● Started: 2024

● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid

● Based: Dubai, UAE

● Industry: M&A

● Funding size: Bootstrapped

● No of employees: Nine

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Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.

“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”

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