The World Food Program (WFP) is launching a 72-hour campaign to raise $1 contributions from 64 million people around the world so it can restore food vouchers to 1.7 million Syrian refugees who won’t be getting any U.N. help in December.
The U.N. agency announced on Monday that it was suspending aid to Syrians who fled to Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt to escape the country’s civil war because it doesn’t have $64 million to cover the cost.
WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said on Wednesday, “We’re saying to people: ‘For you it’s a dollar, for them it’s a lifeline.’”
U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson pointed to WFP’s announcement as an example of the soaring increase in humanitarian needs and the international community’s increasing difficulty in providing funds to help.
