VIDEO: EU will continue to support nations hosting Syrian refugees, including Kurdistan

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The European Union will continue to support host nations, including the Kurdistan Region, who are sheltering hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, a top EU diplomat said on Wednesday.

“The support we have mobilized all over these years, and the support we will be mobilizing tomorrow is covering not only Syrians inside Syria with humanitarian aid, it’s also focusing on the countries in the region,” Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said in response to a question from Kurdistan 24.

“I am confident that there will be a sustained effort from the European Union,” she continued, “and from the rest of the international community to support not only Syrians but also the host communities.”

Mogherini made the comments during a press conference on the second day of a conference in Brussels, Belgium, about support for Syria and other countries in the region.

Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011 and the emergence of the so-called Islamic State in mid-2014, the Kurdistan Region has been a haven for at least two million displaced Iraqis and Syrian refugees, relying heavily on its own resources to provide aid and shelter.

Mogherini reserved congratulations for the “generosity” of such host nations like the Kurdistan Region, and said there is a need to “concretely contribute to the sustainability of their efforts.”

“I visited myself many of the camps [where] many of the communities that are hosting Syrian refugees,” she told Kurdistan 24, “and I know how important it is that this support goes equally to the hosting communities, and this [also includes] Iraq.”

(Additional reporting by Barzan Hassan)