Kuwait pledges to assist refugees and displaced people worldwide

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Thursday 05 Nov 2015 - 17:21 Makkah mean time-23-1-1437 Google image New York (IINA) – Kuwait reiterated its commitment to contribute to the efforts of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to help refugees and internally-displaced people around the globe, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported. Addressing the 70th session of the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee for Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs, Anwar Nayef Al Dhafiri, member of the Kuwaiti mission to the session, said Kuwait’s voluntary contributions to the UNHCR-led relief effort stem from a moral and humanitarian responsibility. She noted that in addition to voluntary assistance by its national government and nongovernment institutions, Kuwait commited to offering one million dollars to the UN refugee agency annually. Al Dhafiri commended the regional plan for responding to the Syrian crisis (2015-2016), co-led by the UNHCR and the UNDP in collaboration with the five countries hosting Syrian refugees. She also recalled that Kuwait hosted three UN international humanitarian pledging conferences on Syria during the last three years, aimed at mobilizing support and raising funds for the Syrian refugees, pointing out that the conferences led to pledges by international donors amounting to $7.6 billion, including $1.03 billion from Kuwait. While voicing her profound concern over the suffering of the refugees and displaced people in Iraq as a result of the terrorist attacks by Daesh, Al Dhafiri said that Kuwait has recently completed the delivery of assistance worth $200 million to the internally-displaced people in Iraq. With regard to the Yemen crisis, she said the instability, resulting from the Houthi aggression, prompted Kuwait to donate $100 million to the efforts meant to cover the basic humanitarian needs of the displaced persons there. On the Palestine issue, Al Dhafiri urged the international community to apply pressure on Israel to end the prolonged suffering of the Palestinian refugees and ensure their right to return to their homeland. AB/IINA