The windy resort of Lough Erne in Northern Ireland this week must have felt far from the millions of Syrians whose lives have been ripped apart by conflict. Yet many of the G8 leaders meeting there have seen the human impact for themselves.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s focus on stopping the war in Syria is given greater urgency in large part by conversations he had with Syrian refugees in Jordan. Samantha Cameron visited Lebanon earlier this year, in her capacity as an ambassador for Save the Children, and has spoken of how moved she was by what she saw and heard.
There are 1.5m Syrians in Lebanon, including over half a million registered refugees. This is like every Romanian coming to the UK, or every American to China. Half are children. Yes, half are children. At this rate, the number registered will hit 1m by the end of the year. The UN launched last week the largest ever humanitarian appeal, for a huge $1.7bn.
So we should be proud that the UK used the G8 Summit to galvanise a response of $1.5bn, including $300m from the US, $275m from Britain (our largest ever humanitarian announcement), $115m from Canada, and $6.5m from Russia.
The EU has recently announced over $500m in additional funding. We showed that a time of austerity has blunted neither our outrage nor our compassion. The UK contribution alone will reach over 1m people needing food, shelter, education, medicine, dignity.
I’ll be writing in the Lebanese press tomorrow about what this will mean in practical terms for Lebanon, which is hosting the most victims of the Syria conflict. The G8 recognised the sacrifices and generosity this entails. We will also signal in the coming weeks new support for the army’s stabilisation effort.
The impact of our help will be greatest if a consensus government is formed that can lead the response plan and get the nation behind the army. It will make most difference in the context of a neutral Lebanon focused on Lebanese national interests, not one that sends its sons to fight other countries’ wars in Syria.
As I’ve posted before ‘Syrian uprising two years on’ all these relentless statistics can never capture the reality, nor the individual stories, of loss and displacement. Please support the UNHCR campaign, asking you to Take 1 minute to support a family forced to flee. ’ll also be marking World Refugee Day tomorrow with Save the Children. You can find out more about how best to support them here.
Of course, all these efforts are important but insufficient while the conflict in Syria continues to rage. UK decisions are shaped above all by two factors: how best to protect civilians, and how to get to a political rather than military solution. We’re trying to put the fire out, not fan the flames.
So it was important that the G8 kept the Geneva political process alive, and that it agreed on improving humanitarian access and tackling the extremist minority among the opposition (thereby negating the regime’s propaganda about the West supporting terrorism). It also underlined the importance of the Syrian state remaining intact, so that the long, hard job of rebuilding Syria has a foundation – a lesson learnt from Iraq.
We should also be honest about our disagreements: the G8 exposed the dividing line between those arming the regime and those aiding the victims.
Like Lough Erne, Lebanon can also feel windswept. Buffeted by international politics, by its neighbours, by inherent tensions. It cannot be left alone to cope with the challenges that the Syria crisis has created. The international community has an obligation to be at Lebanon’s side, in deeds not just words. The G8 said they would: hold us to that.