The Saudi National Campaign to Support the Syrian People has participated in a seminar held at the headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva. Saeid Alarabi Al-Harithi, adviser to the minister of interior and chairman of the Saudi relief committees and campaigns, Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeah, adviser at the Royal Court and general supervisor of King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid, and President of the Human Rights Commission Dr. Bandar Al-Aiban, Saudi ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva Faisal Trad and representatives of the diplomatic missions, international organizations and humanitarian institutions, took part in the seminar titled "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Efforts to Alleviate Suffering of the Syrian people." Al-Harithi stressed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has realized importance and necessity of relief and humanitarian work based on the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah as well as the teachings of the tolerant and peaceful religion of Islam. He pointed out that the Kingdom has made and is making great efforts on the basis of recognition and appreciation of the value of human, whatever his or her color, religion, race and nationality. "These efforts have achieved a lot of goals in alleviation of the suffering and pain of the afflicted and affected people in various parts of the world. A march of providing humanitarian assistance are still continued under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Naif, deputy premier and minister and interior, who is also the general supervisor of the Saudi relief committees and campaigns and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense. He said the Kingdom has opened legal channels and local, regional and international official organizations in the field of humanitarian work, which contributed to alleviating the sufferings of millions of people affected by war and natural disasters around the world. "These efforts enabled competent charitable and relief institutions to carry out their responsibilities locally, regionally and internationally, which covered more than 70 percent of the countries in the world according to statistics from specialized humanitarian aid organizations," he added. "The facts and statistics confirm that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia supports people affected by natural disasters or wars with its humanitarian response," he added. Al-Harithi said the Saudi relief committees and campaigns under supervision of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Naif are good examples of such rapid response. "The committees since their inception until to date have provided SR3,833,243,162 in Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, East Asian countries and Somalia. These assistance included relief, food, medical, educational, social and developmental programs in addition to the Kingdom's direct assistance to governments and formal bodies in the affected countries," he added. Al-Harithi stressed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia provided assistance to the Syrian crisis since the beginning. "The Kingdom seeks to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people by all humanitarian and relief means. The Kingdom provided great facilities to the Syrian people, including measures of accommodation and movement in addition to allowing the Syrian people who live in the Kingdom to bring their families and relatives from Syria to live with them unconditionally. As many as 343,150 Syrians are registered in the public education and university education in the Kingdom free of cost. In addition, free medical services are provided to Syrians in all government hospitals in the Kingdom. They are also issued permits to commence business in all regions of the Kingdom," Al-Harithi said. He stressed that more than 2 million Syrians have benefited from the Kingdom's assistance since the beginning of the Syrian crisis until now. "The Kingdom does not treat the Syrian people in its territories as refugees in order to preserve their dignity and integrity; instead, they enjoy complete freedom of movement in the Kingdom," he added. The head of the Saudi relief committees and campaigns said the Kingdom has honored commitments announced toward Syrian refugees during the 4th International Conference of Donors, held in London, on Feb. 2015, as it provided them with $100 million, raising the total aid to $780 million since 2011. These people-driven aid was delivered to the Syrian refugees through the Saudi National Campaign to Support Brethren in Syria, under the direct supervision of the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Naif, he said, as he was citing in details, the Saudi aid. Relief programs and humanitarian projects the National Campaign provides Syrian refugees with are complementary to the humanitarian role played by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its government and people, toward Arab as well as Muslim brethren, everywhere, especially, during times of crises, he added. He said more than 3 million Syrians, in the neighboring countries, in addition to half a million displaced people inside Syria took full advantage of these campaign, which is crucial to mitigate their sufferings and unprecedented hardships. — SPA
