Saudi Arabia pledges more support for refugees

NEW YORK: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif said Saudi Arabia is committed to providing more support to aid refugees at a UN summit on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Leaders Summit on Refugees in New York, Prince Mohammed said the Kingdom is a pioneer in providing humanitarian assistance and highlighted the countries work with a number of agencies to support refugees.
The crown prince thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman who pledged to provide a further $75 million to aid refugees in coordination with international organizations.
The crown prince said there are 2.5 million Syrians in the Kingdom, who are not treated as refugees but who are instead given free healthcare and education and are given access to the countries job market.
The crown prince said the Kingdom has provided support to millions of refugees in the countries neighboring Syria with aid amounting to more than $800 million, in addition to charity given by Saudi citizens.
The crown prince added that for the Yemenis who sought refuge, Saudi Arabia considers them as visitors and have provided them with numerous facilities, including exemption from residence and work regulations.
The crown prince said that with regard to refugees in other countries, the Kingdom provided them in February 2016 with support of $59 million dollars to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and that the value of the Kingdom's commitment to provide assistance to Afghan refugees in Pakistan reached $30 million, in addition to the Kingdom's pledge to provided $50 million to the Indonesian Government to support the Rohingya refugees in Indonesia.
World leaders committed to take in 360,000 refugees next year, President Barack Obama said at the US-led summit.
Some 65 million people around the world have fled their homes because of war or persecution or to seek a better life, including about 21.3 million considered refugees by the UN Refugee Agency.