UAE allocates $100m in 2015 to support Syrian refugees

The United Arab Emirates has allocated a total of $100m this year to aid the large numbers of refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria.

Out of this amount, about $40m has already been spent, state news agency WAM reported. A previous statement issued by the UAE said that the country had provided aid worth $530m for Syrian refugees since the start of conflict.

Although the Gulf Arab country does not have a policy to accept refugees, it has supported those living in camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey, the statement added. It has also partnered with Germany and Turkey to establish a reconstruction fund for Syria.

Thousands of Syrians are fleeing the conflict in Syria, many making a perilous journey by inflatable boats to Europe while some have settled down in refugee camps in nearby countries such as Jordan and Lebanon.

Syrian people’s plight gained further traction earlier this year after a photograph that showed the corpse of a young Kurdish boy washed ashore on a Turkish beach went viral across the internet.

Even as many European countries relaxed border controls for such refugees, Gulf countries were criticised heavily for not pitching in to solve the massive refugee crisis despite being geographically close.

But countries such as the UAE have hit back at such criticisms saying that they have taken in nearly 100,000 Syrians since the conflict began in 2011 but just not as refugees. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia said that it has taken in around half a million Syrians, mainly as temporary workers.

Officials in Kuwait- which has been working to reduce its reliance on expat labour- recently urged the government to ease residency rules for Syrians living in the country in consideration of the ongoing conflict.

The Gulf Cooperation Council members are not signatories of the UN Convention on Refugees, which exempts them from opening up their borders. But all of them have claimed that they provided a substantial amount in aid to help tide over the refugee crisis.