UN and partners launch plan to support Syrian refugees and countries hosting them as number of Syrian refugee new-borns reaches one million mark

JOINT UNHCR/UNDP PRESS RELEASE

United Nations Agencies and NGO partners today released the 2019-2020 Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP), a USD 5.5 billion plan designed to support national efforts in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq deal with the continued impact of the Syria crisis.

These neighboring countries have remained incredibly generous in hosting large refugee populations since the start of the crisis - offering asylum and protection, making their public services available to refugees, and enabling more and more refugees to participate in the local economy – despite the toll it has taken on their own development trajectory.

Nevertheless, dealing with such an extremely high number of refugees remains challenging. Some 5.6 million Syrian refugees are currently registered across the region with around one million newly born in displacement.

“These one million children have largely been born into a situation where poverty and unemployment are common, early marriage and child labour occur, and an education is not always secure” said Amin Awad, UNHCR Director for the Middle East and North Africa Bureau and Regional Refugee Coordinator for Syria and Iraq.

“It is critical that the international community continues to recognize the plight of Syrian refugees and provides vital support to host governments and 3RP partners to help shoulder this massive burden, while waiting for voluntary return in safety and dignity” he added.

Vulnerable host communities – who have welcomed Syrian refugees so graciously – also face deepening socio-economic challenges, 3RP partners seek to directly assist some 3.9 million host community members, particularly through livelihoods and economic opportunities, basic services and supporting the work of local institutions and municipalities.

“Communities in the region hosting refugees from Syria have shown tremendous generosity, yet are increasingly themselves under strain. As an international community, we must do our utmost to show solidarity with these vulnerable hosts who are giving so much despite themselves having to make ends meet,” said Mourad Wahba, Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States. “Our collective response must also ensure that host countries are supported to pursue development -- to withstand the crisis while also keeping an eye on the future.”

In 2019, 3RP partners plan to implement a wide-ranging response targeting over nine million people across the five countries. Such support includes helping to address on-going protection challenges for refugees, getting more children into some form of education, enhancing basic services and economic opportunities, especially for women, and leveraging the expertise of 3RP partners to strengthen the response capacity of national and local actors.

Since its inception in 2015, the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) has been at the forefront of responding to the impact of the Syria crisis in five neighboring refugee-hosting countries. Some USD $12 billion has been channeled through the 3RP’s 270 humanitarian and development partners since 2015 to help address the challenges facing refugee and vulnerable host communities, in support of national efforts.

Visit www.3rpsyriacrisis.org for more information.

For more information on this topic, please contact:

• In Amman, Rula Amin, [email protected], +962 (0)790 04 58 49
• In Bagdad, Kate Pond, [email protected], +964 780 920 7286
• In Beirut, Lisa Abou Khaled, [email protected], +961 71 880 070
• In Ankara, Selin Unal, [email protected], +90 530 282 78 62
• In Egypt, Christine Beshay, [email protected], +2 022 728 56 00 or +2 012 835 798 32
• In Geneva, Andrej Mahecic, [email protected], +41 79 642 97 09