Lithuanian Foreign Ministry suggests contributing 15,000 euros to Syria relief

The government drafted a relevant resolution "in response to a call from international organizations to provide humanitarian assistance without delay to the people affected from the Syria conflict." According to the proposal, the money should be earmarked from the government reserve.

"In response to the complicated humanitarian situation in Syria and the region, as well as the United Nations' call to start handling the consequences of the Syria conflict, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has proposed that Lithuania should demonstrate solidarity by supporting efforts of the international community and contributing 50,000 litas in humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees who are currently in the neighboring states. The money should be transferred to a special bank account of the United Nations Refugee Agency," reads a document supplied with the draft resolution.

"Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their places of residence in the country, more than 57,000 people fled abroad and have found refuge in Syria's neighboring countries – Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. As efforts to resolve the conflict peacefully have been fruitless, chances are high that the number of refugees will grow further," the ministry said.

The ministry noted that the tasks planned by UNHCR still required more than 39 million US dollars.

"The European Commission and member-nations have already earmarked more than 28 million euros. In addition to traditional EU donors, there are EU newcomers: Poland (allocated) 352,568 euros, the Czech Republic – 118,728 euros, Estonia contributed 50,000 euros and Hungary – 46,756 euros," the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said.

Ever since the uprising against the regime of President Bashar al Assad started in Syria in March 2011, more than 11,000 people have been killed in the country.

The Western world has been putting rigid diplomatic pressure on the Syrian regime. Russia and china, both countries with a veto right in the UN Security Council, have been somewhat more reserved on the matter. In order to avoid a large-scale civil war, the peace plan of the UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has been proposed for Syria; however, these efforts have been fruitless so far.