Kuwait: The increasing demand to provide  humanitarian aid to the Syrian refugees escaping the bloody fighting to the neighbouring countries necessitates the creation of a safe corridors for aid to them, a top GCC official said.

Abdel Latif Al Zayyani, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation  Council told a meeting in Kuwait on Wednesday that more efforts are needed to aid the Syrian people, who are facing “painful humanitarian disaster” and “are subjected to horrifying killings and massacres and shortage of food and medicine”.

Their agony, “ emphasizes the need to have a safe zones to deliver the humanitarian aid to the brotherly Syrian people.”

“We hope this meeting will adopt such a recommendation,” Al Zayyani added in his speech.

The two-day meeting, the third Annual Conference on Effective Partnership and Information Sharing for Better Humanitarian Action, is attended by scores of officials from both governmental and non-governmental levels from many Arab and non-Arab countries as well as representatives from several organizations in the field of charity and humanitarian aid.

Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry sponsored the meeting, which is organized by the Kuwaiti International Islamic Charitable Organization, the United Nations office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the Direct Aid Association – also a Kuwaiti organisation.

While stressing the country’s commitment to aid the peoples in dire need of help, Kuwaiti Foreign minister Sabah Khaled Al Hamad Al Sabah noted in his speech that Kuwait is giving aid that is equivalent to more than 1.3 percent of its Gross National Product, noting that this is a high percentage according to international standards. 

Kuwait is also giving millions of US dollars as aid to different International
and national relief organizations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross  (ICRC) and the United Nations Relief and Work organisation for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).

However, the Syrian crisis became one of the main focal points of the meeting, during which speakers noted  that the number of humanitarian disasters and emergencies grows every year.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees fled their country to neighboring countries, and huge numbers of people were displaced inside the country, which witnessing an escalating fighting for nearly 18 months.

“Whilst Syrian has been at the top of the political agenda this year, there are many other countries which urgently need our support,” said UN Under Secretary-General Valerie Amos in her speech, naming Yemen and Myanmar as two pressing examples.

Yet, “to meet the ongoing needs in Syria, we need US$ 347 million. So far we have raised US$ 104 million. UNHCR estimate that they need US $193 million to support more than 250 thousand refugees who have crossed the border into neighboring countries. Our thanks to Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq for hosting the refugees,” she said.

However, she noted that humanitarian aid offers only a temporary relief.

“The only permanent solution is a political process which results in security and stability for the people of Syria” she stressed.