With a lot of pride and boastfulness, Kuwaiti people will celebrate tomorrow the fifth anniversary of the UN honoring of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah as a “Humanitarian Leader” and of Kuwait as a “Humanitarian Center.” The UN gesture came in recognition of Kuwait’s outstanding and unique contributions under the wise leadership of His Highness the Amir.
The well-deserved international honoring was a normal crowning of Kuwait’s long history of humanitarian, benevolent and altruistic activities in different world countries.
On September 9, 2014, then-secretary general of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon held a special function at the UN headquarters in New York to express the UN and the international community’s appreciation for His Highness the Amir and Kuwait’s generosity and kindness.
The UN move came as Kuwait had shown exemplary humanitarian leadership in supporting global humanitarian and relief operations under the compassionate and passionate leadership of His Highness the Amir.
Based on its highly appreciated values and principles, the State of Kuwait has adopted numerous humanitarian initiatives to offer aid to people in need across the globe.
As a key player in this regard, the Kuwaiti people largely contribute to international humanitarian and relief efforts through charities and non-governmental organizations.
They provide nonstop altruistic aid and help to many humanitarian projects and activities in various world countries, mainly in Asia and Africa, particularly during natural disasters.
The conferences and gatherings hosted by Kuwait at the behest of His Highness the Amir over the past years have contributed to making Kuwait a “Humanitarian Center.” Kuwait is still extending its growing charitable activities aiming at the alleviation of humanitarian sufferings and woes and participation in development projects worldwide.
The oil-rich Gulf country is also playing a crucial part in humanitarian efforts spearheaded by the United Nations through its specialized agencies in a much-appreciated fashion that unequivocally and obviously reflects deep-rooted partnership between Kuwait and the UN.
Capitalizing on its current rotating non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council (UNSC), Kuwait has underlined on several occasions that unimpeded humanitarian aid and help should be given to refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Kuwait has spared no effort to provide a decent life to them, given that the UN refugee agency’s statistics estimate that there are now 40 million IDPs, 25.4 million refugees and 3.1 million asylum-seekers across the globe.
Kuwait’s benevolent aid and funding have saved tens of thousands of lives worldwide, and have even galvanized others to participate in coordinated international action.
On many occasions, Kuwait has restated that it would never give up its regional and international responsibilities towards economic, social and environmental development.
As an effective UN member and through different agencies, Kuwait extends unremitting development assistance to developing and least-developed countries, which are 106 in number.
The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) is playing a great part in this regard by means of offering donations and concessionary loans to infrastructure projects in development countries.
