WARSAW, POLAND: The Supervisor General of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah, held a seminar entitled “Saudi Humanitarian Aid – Past and Present”, which took place on the margins of Warsaw Humanitarian Expo 2019. The Supervisor General presented an overview of the wide range of humanitarian and relief activities carried out by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) since its founding, including KSrelief’s contributions since its creation in May of 2015. The seminar was attended by Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Poland, Mohammed Hussain Madani, Foreign Ministry officials, officials from the diplomatic corps, representatives from a number of humanitarian and human rights organizations and members of the press.

Dr. Al Rabeeah stated that since its early history, the Kingdom has been known for its active contributions to the humanitarian aid sector, providing various forms of assistance to people in need throughout the world.

Dr. Al Rabeeah presented some of the Kingdom’s international humanitarian initiatives, including: aid donations to assist flood victims in Punjab, the establishment in 1974 of the Saudi Fund to stimulate economic growth, government and public donations to war-stricken people in Kosovo in 1999, and government and public donations to victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004.

The Supervisor General listed some of the Kingdom’s other humanitarian contributions, including: government and public donations to victims of Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh in 2007, donations to China’s earthquake victims in 2008, donations to WFP in 2008 of USD 500 million (the largest single donation ever received ever by WFP), and donations to assist Iraqi IDPs for an amount of USD 500 million in 2014.

Dr. Al Rabeeah then spoke about examples of the humanitarian role played by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, who has supported humanitarian causes for decades, including serving as the head of several government and public committees to assist crisis victims in Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries. He added that international assistance from the Kingdom has reached record levels during the past several decades: USD 86 billion in impartial support to 81 countries across all humanitarian sectors. 

Dr. Al Rabeeah informed the audience that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques officially inaugurated KSrelief on 13 May 2015 to implement and monitor all of the Kingdom’s external humanitarian assistance. To date, KSrelief has implemented 1,011 projects in 44 countries at a total cost of USD 3,439,139,332.

KSrelief’s projects which are focused on support for women number 225 – assisting 62,741,896 beneficiaries for a total cost of USD 389,682,830. The center’s child-focused projects amount to 234 – some 114,210,302 beneficiaries – for a total cost of USD 529,463,920.

Dr. Al Rabeeah added that KSA is hosting 12.2 million international migrants which make up 37% of the total Saudi population; this number makes the Kingdom the second-largest in terms of the largest number of migrants worldwide, after the United States. KSA is also hosting visitors (refugees), including 561,911 Yemenis, 262,573 Syrians, and 249,669 Rohingya from Myanmar.

Under directives from the Kingdom’s leadership, KSrelief also establish the Saudi Aid Platform, which is the first public-access, transparent online database in the region and which accurately conveys information about KSA’s humanitarian aid donations from 1975 to date. The center’s eDonation Portal was also recently launched to give Saudis the opportunity to make donations electronically using credit cards and other electronic payment methods from all around the world. He added that the portal also offers donors the opportunity to create personal accounts that provide them with data on the programs they support and give them the opportunity to donate to the countries and programs of their choice.

KSA’s total financial contributions to Yemen since 2015 are USD 12.07 billion. The provided aid is divided as follows: humanitarian aid and relief provided through KSrelief, aid provided to Yemenis inside Saudi Arabia, development aid allocated to Yemen, bilateral government assistance, and deposits to the Central Bank of Yemen.

Dr. Al Rabeeah stated that KSrelief implemented 345 projects in Yemen with a total cost of USD 2,181,930,018 with 80 humanitarian partners, including the United Nations and other international, regional and local NGOs. The projects in Yemen have included the following sectors: food security, health, early recovery, humanitarian and emergency relief coordination, WASH, shelter, protection, education, logistics, nutrition, emergency telecommunications and others.

Dr. Al Rabeeah also talked about the center’s response to funding appeals from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF; KSA provided USD 66.7 million to combat the cholera epidemic in Yemen. He also spoke about several flagship programs initiated by KSrelief in Yemen, including:

The Saudi Project for Landmine Clearance ("MASAM”), which has provided more than 400 professionals and equipment to clear the more than one million Houthi-militia-planted landmines in Yemen.

The Child Soldiers Rehabilitation Program will rehabilitate at least 2,000 former child soldiers and other children traumatized by the ongoing Yemen conflict and provide them with medical and social welfare services to help them reintegrate into their homes, communities and schools. The program also includes awareness programs for families about the dangers of child recruitment.

The Artificial Limbs Centers in Ma’rib and Aden, and several in southern Saudi hospitals to help landmine victims regain physical mobility by providing them with artificial limbs and rehabilitative care.

Dr. Al Rabeeah also listed various Houthi militia violations against humanitarian workers and aid delivery in Yemen, explaining that Houthis have confiscated relief vessels, convoys and trucks, and have used anti-aircraft weapons in civilian locations. Militias have also attacked the Kingdom with ballistic missiles, drones, mortars, artillery and Katyusha rockets, resulting in the deaths of 112 civilians, and injuries to 954 and damage to 41 schools, 6 hospitals and 20 mosques. More than 20,000 Saudi citizens have been displaced as a result of these aggressions.

Dr. Al Rabeeah outlined KSrelief support for many other countries, including:

• Palestine – 78 projects with USD 352,966,000
• Syria – 191 projects with USD 267,056,000
• Somalia – 37 projects with USD 175,368,000
• Pakistan – 105 projects with USD 116,602,000
• Indonesia – 27 projects with USD 71,254,000
• Iraq – 13 projects with USD 26,749,000
• Lebanon – 24 projects with USD 23,800,000
• Afghanistan – 32 projects with USD 22,337,000
• Myanmar (for Rohingya IDPs) – 14 projects with USD 17,477,000
• Djibouti – 11 projects with USD 6,188,000

Also, the Saudi National Conjoined Twins Program, headed by Dr. Al Rabeeah, who is a renowned pediatric surgeon, has successfully separated 47 pairs of conjoined twins from 20 countries on three continents.