Q Life Magazine Q Magazine (US) December 2015 | Page 70
| Issue 1
Qatar aid to Syrians
tops $1.7 billion
I
n the four years since the Syrian
Civil War began in the spring
of 2011, the UN Refugee Agency
(UNHCR) estimates that more than
220,000 people have been killed.
Four million Syrians have left the
country and another 6.5 million
have been internally displaced, from
a pre-war population of less than
18 million.
In an interview with the British
political magazine the New
Statesman, published on September
29, 2015, Qatar’s Minister of
Foreign Affairs Dr. Khalid Al-Attiyah
says that Qatar’s government and
related institutions have sent more
than $1.7 billion in aid to the Syrian
people since the Civil War began:
$1.6 billion in humanitarian aid
plus $160 million from Qatar’s semi-
governmental institutions. Qatar
has also led the way in recognizing
moderate Syrian opposition groups
and has backed efforts to provide
70
educational opportunities
for refugees.
To assist those leaving the war
zone, Qatar has eased visa
restrictions for Syrian nationals
arriving in the country. As of
November 2015, there were
almost 54,000 Syrians living in
Qatar; 47,000 have full residency
permits and another 7,000 are on
renewable visitor visas. Twenty-
five thousand of these Syrians
have arrived during the past four
years, as the Civil War escalated.
With its usual focus on education,
Qatar has built two schools for
the Syrian community in Doha,
the first of which was completed
in 2012. Through Educate a Child,
an initiative of Education Above
All, Qatar is also contributing to
the education of 600,000 displaced
children inside and outside of Syria.
Additionally, the country
has provided support for 100 Syrian
“The suffering of the
Syrian people is not
an issue of religion,
ethnicity or nationality.
It is a human issue.
The duty is therefore
shared among all of
us in the international
community — East
and West, Arab and
non-Arab.”
Dr. Khalid Al-Attiyah
Minister of Foreign Affairs