Prague, Oct 20 (CTK) – The Czech Foreign Ministry has set aside from its budget over 86 million crowns on the humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees since 2012, including over 20 million last year.
This year, the Foreign Ministry has sponsored six projects for over 16 million crowns to help the war-torn Syria as well as the neighbouring Jordan and Lebanon to which more than two million refugees have fled.
The four-year civil war in Syria has claimed 300,000 lives and forced out of their homes over 11 million people.
They have been helped by Czech NGOS such as the People in Need that has an office in Aleppo and Idlib and has delivered direct aid to 1.6 million Syrians since the conflict started in 2011.
The Deaconry of the Czech Brethren church has been mainly helping the Syrian refugees in Jordan and since 2012, in the biggest refugee camp al-Zaatari, now housing about 80,000 people, while more than half of them are children and youths.
Along with local partners, it has built the Peace Oasis centre where a psychologist can be used and retraining courses are offered.
The Deaconry received 2.5 million crowns from the Foreign Ministry this year. In 2014, it was three million.
ADRA helps the refugees in the detention facility in Vysni Lhoty, north Moravia, where its volunteers collect food and clothes.
A number of organisations also stage collections. The UNICEF of the Czech Republic has staged a collection for the fourth year in a row.
The Czech Republic also helps the Syrian refugees within the MEDEVAC (Medical Evacuation) programme, primarily for seriously ill children from the regions afflicted by a war.
Within the programme, administered by the Interior Ministry, Czech doctors operate on Syrian refugees in Jordan.
Thanks to the MEDEVAC, three Syrian families with ill children arrived in the Czech Republic last week. Another two are to come by the end of the year.
The Czech Republic has also donated 45 million crowns to build a safe electric network in al-Zaatari to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
