A major UN donors' conference that aims to raise billions of dollars for Syria has opened in Kuwait with experts warning of a "humanitarian catastrophe" unfolding in the war-torn country.
The United Nations has launched an appeal to raise $8.4 billion (€7.7bn) this year, and hopes to receive major pledges at the one-day conference which is being attended by delegates from 78 nations.
The European Union announced a pledge of nearly €1.1bn in humanitarian aid.
The Department of Foreign Affairs says Ireland will provide €12m this year in funding and emergency supplies to help meet the urgent needs of those affected by the Syria conflict.
Minister of State at the department Seán Sherlock said: "It will bring the total value of the Irish Government’s response to the crisis in Syria to over €43m."
The US pledged $507m towards addressing the humanitarian crisis while summit hosts Kuwait promised $500m.
Saudi Arabia said it was providing an additional $60m.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is chairing the Third International Pledging Conference for Syria, which was opened by Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
The conference is being held as the humanitarian situation deteriorates in Syria with many international aid agencies complaining that a shortage of funding could lead to their operations being halted.
Ahead of the meeting, around 40 international non-governmental organisations pledged $506m, much higher than funds promised at two previous NGO conferences.
UN humanitarian affairs chief Valerie Amos said the donor response at today's conference "needs to be comprehensive".
She said the humanitarian situation had deteriorated in Syria with no reduction in violence and children particularly affected.
At the first and second conferences, also hosted by Kuwait, pledges of $1.5 billion and $2.4 billion were made. However, the UN has complained that not all pledges were honoured.
Mr Ban said in a report last week that devastation from the fighting in Syria had left around 7.6m people internally displaced.
Another 3.9m have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.
"Every day brings more death, displacement and destruction," the UN report said.
With the conflict now in its fifth year, almost half of all Syrians have been forced to flee their homes, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
Of the $8.4bn needed, $5.5bn is for refugees in neighbouring nations and $2.9bn for people inside Syria, it said.
International aid agency Oxfam has criticised the international response to the Syria crisis, saying the funds were woefully inadequate.
Last year was the deadliest yet in the conflict, with at least 76,000 people killed out of a total of more than 215,000 since it began in March 2011 with peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations.
Close to 850,000 people have also been wounded.
