1 . At the 69th session of the UN General Assembly, the ROK government announced its plan to provide additional humanitarian assistance worth four and one million US dollars to Iraq and Syria, respectively.
2 . [Iraq] More than 1.8 million people have been internally displaced due to airstrikes and barbaric acts by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in northern Iraq and the UN has declared the crisis in Iraq a “Level-3 Emergency,” the highest level of humanitarian crisis. Taking note of such situations, the ROK government decided to offer humanitarian assistance worth 4 million US dollars to Iraq, in addition to the 1.2 million US dollars already donated this year. (5.2 million US dollars in total)
o In particular, northern Iraq (Kurdistan Region), which is seeing a massive displacement of people, is where the ROK has made significant contributions to regional reconstruction by sending the Zaytun Division. The aforementioned humanitarian assistance is also expected to help the ROK gain continuity and consistency in its support to Iraq.
3 . [Syria] In Syria, where the UN has also declared a Level-3 Emergency, over 3 million people have been displaced as a result of a protracted civil war. In the sense, the Syrian crisis has become the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world today. The UN launched the “No Lost Generation Initiative” to provide education and a protective environment to Syrian refugee children (about 1.2 million today) who grew up during the civil war in Syria. The UN also held relevant high-level side events at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly.
o In line with its policy of “paying more special attention to vulnerable groups in society,” the ROK noted that children were physically and mentally more vulnerable to violence in the Syrian civil war. In order to protect and educate children, who are future leaders, the ROK attended the high-level side events and announced its decision to provide 1 million US dollars in humanitarian aid, in addition to the 5 million US dollars already donated this year.
- The 1 million US dollars will be used to provide education and a protective environment to 150,000 children living in Syrian refugee camps in Jordan.
4 . At the latest session of the UN General Assembly, humanitarian crises spreading across the world, including the situations in Syria and Iraq and the spread of the Ebola virus, were recognized as threats to global peace and security and efforts to respond to such crises were highlighted as key issues. The ROK government, as a responsible middle-power country in the international community, will take a more active interest in various complex humanitarian crises and continue to expand humanitarian assistance.
Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA
*unofficial translation