Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-02-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the UK’s status as the largest European donor for relief in Syria and Iraq, and for refugee services elsewhere, what progress they are making toward greater burden-sharing within the EU and the European Economic Area in proportion to each country’s income per head.
Baroness Verma
The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the Syrian crisis. To date, we have committed over £2.3 billion, our largest ever response to a humanitarian crisis. As a result of the rise of Daesh, a separate humanitarian crisis has also emerged in Iraq. To date, we have committed £79.5 million to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq.
We continue to play a leading role in encouraging the international community to contribute generously to the UN appeals. At the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference we co-hosted in London on 4 February 2016, leaders came together to pledge more than $11 billion, the largest amount raised in one day for a humanitarian crisis. The money pledged at the Conference will save lives, give hope and give people a chance for the future.
We welcome the generous pledge of $2.5 billion in immediate and long-term funding from Germany at the Conference. Likewise, the EU pledged €915 million for 2016, €1.275 billion for 2017-20 and a further €200 million in concessional finance. Like the UK, Germany and the EU have pledged much more than in previous years.
