Congress: Approve Emergency Funding to Feed Syrian Refugees

  • by: Susan V
  • recipient: US Congress

A severe shortage in UN Food Program funds has led to life-threatening cuts in aid to Syrian refugees in Jordan - and an increase among those seeking asylum in Europe.

According to Think Progress, 600,000 refugees currently live in Jordan, and about 200,000 got notices last week that their food aid would end altogether - after it had already been cut down to under $14 per month, according to a report by the BBC.

A WFP spokesperson told Huffington Post that refugees have already taken drastic steps such as selling belongings, giving up medications and even keeping children out of school to work for wages, which some say are being withheld by a few employers taking advantage.

The only options now left for those with no assistance, adds Huffington Post, is to “return to a conflict zone in Syria, settle in a refugee camp or try making the risky journey to Europe.”

None of these choices are acceptable as long as it is within US power to contribute enough to end the food crisis. WFP says it needs an immediate $236 million to feed refugees through November.

Ask Congress to make an emergency appropriation of at least $500 million to help feed Syrian refugees.

Dear Decision Maker,  

A severe shortage in UN Food Program funds has led to life-threatening cuts in aid to Syrian refugees in Jordan - and an increase among those seeking asylum in Europe. The US should not stand by and allow Syrian refugees to starve if it can help ameliorate the World Food Program’s funding shortage.


[Your Comments]


It is obviously in the best interest of European countries, the US and the Syrian refugees if refugees now living in Jordan are not forced to evacuate out of desperation. It would certainly be less costly to the US and European countries to help provide any assistance that will prevent the need for more migration.


Furthermore it seems negligent of the US and other countries to have allowed this food crisis to occur in the first place. The Huffington Post reports that the WFP had “…been warning since as early as last summer that a funding crisis has stretched the organization thin, and has caused the group to cut back on resources it can offer Syrian refugees in Jordan” And the BBC reports that refugees had already been forced to meet nutritional needs for an entire family with as little as just over $13 dollars a month - with reporters demonstrating in detail exactly how little food could be purchased with that amount of money.


Resolving this food shortage problem sooner would certainly have reduced the number of refugees fleeing for Europe and the number killed, including children like Aylan Kurdi.


We request that Congress appropriate as much emergency funding as possible to help end the WFP shortage crisis and feed Syrian refugees.


Thanks for your consideration.

[Your Name]

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