EU pledges €50m extra in aid to Syria

The European Commission announced on the 7 September 2012 that it was preparing to release an additional €50 million humanitarian funding to help Syrian civilians caught up in the country's crisis. This would bring the Commission's total contribution to €119 million.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned of the deteriorating situation for civilians as violence escalated across the country. The UN estimated that there were now 2.5m people in Syria in urgent need of assistance.

EEAS: Syria http://www.eeas.europa.eu/syria/index_en.htm

European Commission: RAPID: Press Release, IP/12/942: Worsening crisis in Syria: European Commission increases its emergency aid http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/12/942&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Commission: Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection: News - Syria: 'Stepping up our assistance in this desperate situation' , September 2012 http://ec.europa.eu/echo/news/2012/20120907_en.htm

BBC News, 6.9.12: Syria crisis: Desperate plight of displaced civilians http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19493780

European Commission: Speech/12/599: Catherine Ashton on the situation in Syria http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/12/599&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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