Japan has decided to provide a U.N. agency with $5.5 million for a project to improve living conditions in Syria, as residents who had fled the country amid a civil war are increasingly returning following the collapse of former President Bashar al-Assad’s government last year.
The grant aid scheme, signed by Japan and the U.N. Human Settlements Program, or UN-Habitat, on Aug 12, targets Aleppo and Homs, two of the hardest-hit regions in the Middle East nation, and aims to rebuild essential infrastructure in slums and other informal settlements, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
With the continuing “serious humanitarian situation” in Syria and more refugees returning to their homes, helping people secure a safe living environment has become a “pressing issue,” the ministry said in a recent press release.
Public order and security in Syria remain fragile under a caretaker government that was launched after rebels captured the capital Damascus and Assad fled the country in December, ending his family’s rule that spanned over half a century.
UN-Habitat said in a separate news release that prolonged conflict, as well as major earthquakes that hit Syria and Turkey in February 2023, left informal settlements in Aleppo and Homs without access to “basic services such as water, electricity, sanitation and safe housing.”
As of the end of July, over 746,000 Syrians have returned from neighboring countries and that was also the case for more than 1.5 million internally displaced people, the Nairobi-based body said, adding the project “will directly benefit more than 81,000 individuals.”
Informal settlements were home to an estimated 40 percent of Syria’s urban population before the civil war began in 2011, UN-Habitat said. Some 16.5 million of the country’s 23.2 million population are believed to be in need of assistance, according to the Japanese ministry.
Japan, a leading donor to humanitarian recovery efforts in Syria, has contributed over $21 million in support of UN-Habitat projects to aid vulnerable Syrian communities since 2022, according to the organization.