Kuwait will mark the sixth anniversary of the UN honoring of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah as a “humanitarian leader” and Kuwait as an “international humanitarian center”. Though COVID-19 continues to infect people and claim lives, His Highness the Amir continued to lead and orchestrate Kuwaiti efforts to provide fellow humans with a helping hand.
On September 9, 2014, then-Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) Ban Ki-moon held a special function at the UN headquarters in New York to commemorate the Kuwaiti leadership and people’s commitment to the world humanitarian causes. “We thank the Amir and the people of Kuwait for their outstanding generosity… Kuwait’s leadership and funding has saved lives, and has galvanized others to participate in coordinated international action,” Ban said in remarks at a ceremony recognizing the humanitarian leadership of His Highness the Amir at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday.”
“At a time when so many of our appeals are under-funded, it is good to know we can count on Kuwait’s generosity,” he added. His Highness the Amir said, during the ceremony, that Kuwait had always based its foreign policy on “the necessity of providing humanitarian aid for all countries in need” regardless of geographic boundaries, religion or ethnicity.
He revealed that Kuwait, in 2008, had allocated around 10 percent of its support towards UN relief causes connected with natural disasters and wars. Since ascension to power in 2006, His Highness the Amir made it his and Kuwait’s mission to assist countries in the region and the world to fight off poverty and mishaps. Whether aiding Yemen with USD 100 million in 2015, holding and co-hosting several conferences to help assist Syrians suffering from war since 2011 or contributing USD 176 million during Washington’s 2016 donors’ conference for Iraq, His Highness the Amir painted a clear picture of Kuwait’s humanitarian diplomacy.
It is worthy to note that Kuwait had held on February 12-14, 2018 the Kuwait donors International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq, an event that resulted in a USD 30 billion pledge. Palestinians were not forgotten in Kuwait’s humanitarian efforts with the GCC country providing, during the era of His Highness the Amir, USD 34 million and USD 15 million to UNRWA in 2009 and 2013 respectively.
In present times, His Highness the Amir acknowledged the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and issued a decree on March 26, 2020 allocating a sum of KD 10 million to implement the national anti-coronavirus emergency program. His Highness also instructed state bodies to bring back Kuwaitis from abroad and also aid down-on-their-luck expatriates to help pull through during the measures put to halt the spread of the disease.