Syrian refugees return from Turkey. IOM requests $73 million to expand aid in Syria Humanitarian Aid
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has increased its funding request for its humanitarian operations in Syria to $73.2 million to help more than 1.1 million people across the country over the next six months.
“IOM is committed to supporting the people of Syria at this historic moment, as the country recovers from nearly 14 years of conflict,” said IOM Director General Amy Pope.
Restoring Humanitarian Operations
IOM is expanding its previous request from December 2024 for $30 million, which focused on growing winter needs in northwest Syria. The organization is now resuming its operations across the country to support the most vulnerable communities, including internally displaced people and returning refugees. Read also:
The Security Council discussed the situation in Syria, where a “new course is now being shaped”
The funding will be used to distribute essential supplies and cash, shelter and social protection assistance, as well as water, sanitation, hygiene and health services.
Growing needs
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 500,000 internally displaced people will have returned to their communities in northwest Syria by the end of 2024.
Years of conflict have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and millions have been forced to flee their homes inside the country or seek refuge abroad. According to OCHA, before the latest events, 7.4 million people were internally displaced inside Syria, of which 2.3 million lived in camps. Across the country, 16.7 million people depend on humanitarian assistance for their well-being.
IOM is also resuming its systematic movement tracking activities to provide a nationwide assessment of the scale of mobility and related needs. This will be an important step in planning humanitarian operations in 2025 and designing future relief and development programming in Syria.
Since December 2024, IOM has provided winter shelter items to 80,000 people inside the country, water and sanitation services to 170,000 Syrians, and multi-purpose cash-based assistance to 15,000 people.