Czech Foreign Minister has approved the subsidies of 15 million crowns to help people from Iraq and Syria

31 Mar 2015

The money will be spent on the needed things, but also on education. The subsidies will support projects of NGOs. Iraq and Syria have been facing Islamic State militants who have been dominating large tracts of the two countries for months. In addition, a civil war has been afflicting Syria for four years. Due to the conflicts, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives and millions of others lost shelter. One half of the sum will be spent on three projects for Iraqis and the other half on three projects for Syrians. The subsidies for Iraq will focus on food and material aid to the displaced people in the north of the country. “The projects will be implemented by the Czech Red Cross, the Czech Brethren Church Deaconry and the Czech Caritas along with local partners,” the press release said. The help for Syrians will also be implemented by the Czech Brethren, the Charity and the People in Need NGO. “The projects of the People in Need and Czech Caritas concentrate on the material, health, psychological and social, and educational help inside Syria. The project of the Deaconry will support Syrian refugees in Jordan,” the Foreign Ministry said. Earlier this year, the Czech government agreed with granting asylum to selected refugees from Syria and medical treatment of Syrian children in Czech hospitals. Within the MEDEVAC humanitarian program, Czech doctors have operated on Syrian refugees in Jordan. The Czech Republic has also sent military support to the areas hit by the fighting. Last year, it donated ammunition worth 41 million Kč and a total of 500 tons of materiel from its military reserves to the Kurds who fight Islamic State. The Foreign Ministry also allotted around 16 million Kč to humanitarian projects in Burma and several African countries to aid inhabitants of countries afflicted by fighting. In Myanmar, the Czech Republic will support two projects in the southeast of the country. In Africa, the subsidies will go to medical aid in Niger, support for internally displaced inhabitants of the Central African Republic and aid to refugees from South Sudan in Ethiopia and Uganda. The projects will be implemented by ADRA, the Czech Brethren Church Deaconry, Doctors without Borders, Siriri, Care Czech Republic, Magna Children in Need and Czech Caritas.