Gülden Sönmez, member of IHH Board of Trustees and head of Human Rights Law Commission, and Nalan Dal, International Corporate Relations executive, attended the UN meeting to represent IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation.
Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), specially thanked IHH as a significant partner of the UN in the region during the meeting, in which humanitarian aid and humanitarian diplomacy efforts of IHH in Syrian were discussed in detail.
IHH, which had attended the previous meetings of the forum as well, briefed the audience on the humanitarian relief activities it had been carrying out in support of Syrians inside Syria, as well as in refugees camps in Turkey and other countries, and shared the extent of the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the region with the international community.
IHH executives called on diplomats attending the meeting, the UN bodies, and international nongovernmental organizations to provide more assistance in order to end the plight of the Syrian people and help the affected population recover.
IHH’s presentation and appeal:
As the current crisis in Syria is about to enter its third year, tens of thousands of people have been killed, and millions of Syrian, some inside Syria and some outside it, have been affected by the crisis and become dependent on aid.
Relief efforts by IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation;
IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation has been since the day one of the crisis coordinating with 50 NGOs from different countries around the world humanitarian relief efforts to support Syrians both inside Syria and those who sought refuge in such countries as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.
IHH delivers assistance to the region through local aid agencies. The foundation organized a meeting at its headquarters in Istanbul in February 2013 with the attendance of 53 Syrian aid agencies actively involved in relief efforts in the region.
IHH has also secured the release of nationals of many countries detained in Syria thanks to humanitarian diplomacy it conducts. Since the foundation began humanitarian diplomacy activities, 48 Iranians and 2188 civilians, 76 of them women and the others children and media workers, have been released. IHH is carrying on with humanitarian diplomacy efforts to release civilians currently detained in Syria.
The total amount of humanitarian assistance delivered to the Syrian people by IHH has reached $18 million, while $10m-worth more aid that has been promised by IHH donors will be dispatched to the region in the coming months.
Main humanitarian relief activities by the foundation;
-Food security; providing convenience food, dried food, infant formula, nutritional supplements, milk etc. For instance, 1000 supplies of flour delivered to the region in 40 trucks on 16 February is the biggest-ever aid delivery made to Syria so far.
-Healthcare; providing emergency/healthcare kits in different sizes, medical equipment, astringents, blood units, wheelchairs etc. Two mobile healthcare clinics, one based in Turkey and one based in Syria, where operations and other medical procedures can be performed, Turkey-based rehabilitation centers, and an operating theatre in Lebanon.
-Accommodation; providing tents and prefabricated shelters as well as all the other necessities. Setting up a village of 1000 container shelters, each with 21 square-meters, four school buildings and two healthcare clinics that are currently under construction.
-Hygiene; providing portable toilets and showers, water tanks, various hygiene and cleaning kits.
-Clothing materials; providing clothing items and footwear, kitchen tools, blankets, mattresses, stoves, fuel, household goods (mini ovens, standing fans, cookers, etc.)
-Cash donations; especially to widowed women and orphaned children.
IHH is always willing to cooperate with institutions or individuals wishing to assist people in Syria or in neighboring countries. We believe together we can help the Syrian people that have been caught in the middle of a humanitarian crisis and wait our support and assistance.
