Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 26 January 2017
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence
Syrian Conflict: United Nations High Commission for Refugees
9:30 am
Ms GrĂ¡inne O'Hara:
The 60% represents the average rate of funding for many humanitarian appeals. In the case of Syria, the Syrian appeal of last year was, of course, marked by the very large event in London on 4 February 2016, where significant financial commitments were made. Many of the financial commitments made in London have, in fact, been fully respected. However, the commitments made never reached the full level of the appeal. I have just come from Helsinki where we launched the 2017 appeal. On the refugee side, it amounts to $4.6 billion. The event in Helsinki was not a pledging event; the pledging event will follow at some point in April to be hosted by the European Union in Brussels. We have yet to see what the pledging levels will be for this year's appeal.
No comments