December 03, 2014

WFP forced to suspend food aid to Syrian refugees

located:	Iraq, Turkey
editor:	Neelo Aysha Scholz

The UN food agency announced that it is suspending its food voucher program, denying 1.7 million Syrian refugees basic foodstuff, due to a funding crisis. The decision follows a prior rationing of food aid in October, as reported by fairplanet on October 14th.

The international body urgently needs $64 million for the month of December to continue to provide bare necessities such as flour and cooking oil for over half of the 3 million Syrians displaced since 2011.

“A suspension of WFP food assistance will endanger the health and safety of these refugees and will potentially cause further tensions, instability and insecurity in the neighbouring host countries, said WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin, in an appeal to donors. “The suspensions of WFP food assistance will be disastrous for many already suffering families.”

She said that without WFP vouchers, many families will go hungry and that for refugees already struggling to survive the harsh winter the consequences of halting this assistance will be devastating.

So why is there such a gaping shortfall? To begin with, only $2.4 billion of the $6.5 billion asked for by the UN was pledged by donor nations in early 2014, the third year of the crisis. And a number of these pledges remain unfulfilled today. New economic powers, Brazil and China also fell starkly short in their international humanitarian stance, with the US and Kuwait leading the call for help. 

Readers can donate directly to the UNHCR:

http://donate.unhcr.org/international/syria