GENEVA: The suffering of millions of Syrians caught up in their homeland’s civil war is a “stain” on the world’s conscience, European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said Monday.

“The pain and suffering of the Syrian people is beyond what we can tolerate. It is a stain on the world’s conscience,” Barroso told reporters after talks with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

His comments came as the European Commission said it would provide 85 million euros ($120 million) in humanitarian aid for people affected by Syria’s civil war.

The funds are part of a 400-million-euro pledge from Europe following a United Nations appeal made in June, which has proved difficult to finance amid problems with a budget over-run for the 28-nation bloc. Some 6.8 million Syrians, around a third of the prewar population, now rely on humanitarian aid. Close to half are children.

“This is unacceptable,” said Barroso.

Most refugees are in neighboring Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan — who Barroso praised for their assistance — where there are rising concerns about tensions with overburdened local communities.

“Humanitarian crises have no borders. That’s why we need to pay special attention to preventing the spread of conflict, and reduce tensions between host communities and refugees. That’s also a reason why we need a political solution,” said Barroso.

The UN has asked rich countries to provide a haven for some 12,000 of the most vulnerable refugees, and some have begun doing so. “Attacks against civilians, including humanitarian workers, are unacceptable,” he said.

The risks were made starkly clear by the Oct. 13 kidnapping of six Red Cross staff and a Syrian Red Crescent employee.

Three ICRC staff and the Red Crescent volunteer were released a day later, but three are still in captivity.

“We’re still hoping for, and working toward, as early as possible a release,” ICRC head Peter Maurer told reporters Monday.

Meanwhile, Arab foreign ministers will meet in Cairo on Nov. 3 to discuss backing the Syrian opposition at a proposed Geneva peace conference, a top Arab diplomat said Monday.

Asked whether the ministers would discuss providing backing for the opposition groups, Arab League deputy chief Ahmed Ben Hilli told reporters “the meeting on Sunday will look into this matter.”

Ben Hilli said an official date for the Geneva meeting has not been set. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby had previously said the meeting would take place on Nov. 23.

National Coalition leader Ahmed Jarba, who had requested backing from the Arab foreign ministers, said the umbrella opposition group would negotiate only “a transfer of all power and then the departure of the mass killer (Assad).”