WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. aid organizations are decrying what they call “bafflingly” low support for Syrians trapped by war or stranded as refugees across the border.
Joel Chamy, vice president of the aid umbrella group InterAction, says the violence two years into Syria’s civil war is making it hard to deliver assistance to civilians in Syria. But he says there is no excuse for the lack of international funding for refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and other neighboring countries.
At a January conference in Kuwait, the U.N. received $1.5 billion in aid pledges, but says it has only received a fifth of the money so far.
Michael Young of the International Rescue Committee says more money is needed to combat sexual violence against women refugees. He says sexual assault and exploitation is “pervasive.”
