Japan to give $2.44 million to protect Syrian refugees against cold

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Thursday 26 Nov 2015 - 10:13 Makkah mean time-14-2-1437 Image from Internet Tokyo (IINA) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday that Tokyo will provide 300 million yen (around $2.44 million) in aid to help protect Syrian refugees in Europe against the cold, Jiji News reported. He made the announcement during a meeting with visiting UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres. The money, part of Japan's 3.9-billion-yen (around $31.81 million) annual contributions to the Office of the UNHCR, will be used for the purchase of heating equipment for refugee facilities and other measures against the cold. Expressing his gratitude for the assistance, Guterres said that activities of his office would be totally impossible without support from the Japanese government as the current refugee crisis is one of the biggest since the end of World War II. The Abe-Guterres meeting was joined by Helen Clark, head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Abe showed his intentions to increase Japanese staff at the Office of the UNHCR and the UNDP. AB/IINA