International Day of Charity: UAE plays a stellar role in global aid sector

Top Stories

Dubai - The UAE's efforts are not limited to providing medical or relief aid during the pandemic.

  • Follow us on
  • google-news
  • whatsapp
  • telegram

Published: Sat 5 Sep 2020, 11:46 PM

Last updated: Fri 11 Sep 2020, 9:58 AM

Be it responding to medical emergency caused by the ongoing pandemic or helping in other humanitarian situations around the world, the UAE has established itself as one of the most generous countries of world whose global stature in the field of charity has grown steadily.

Marking the occasion of International Day of Charity today, Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler's Representative in Al Dhafra Region, and Chairman of the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC), said that Emirati charitable work is witnessing steady growth under the leadership of the President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and has become an "inherent characteristic" of the UAE as its field has expanded, developed and grown, thanks to wise policies and a firm approach in this regard.

This year, International Day of Charity has gained greater importance as it coincides with the coronavirus pandemic.

The UAE has a distinguished record in charity and humanitarian work and has established itself as a role model in dealing with the pandemic, in solidarity with all countries of the world.

The UAE's efforts are not limited to providing medical or relief aid.
It has evacuated many expatriates living outside their countries during the outbreak, transported them to their countries, and hosted some of them in the Emirates Humanitarian City.

In a statement on the occasion of the International Day of Charity, Sheikh Hamdan added that the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan laid the solid foundations upon which the UAE's charitable and humanitarian work was based.

"The wise leadership of the UAE is following in the footsteps of the late Founding Father, whose charitable and development projects were spread everywhere and benefited millions of the underprivileged and those in need."

The UAE charitable work has reached out to many sisterly and friendly countries across the world, he added. Over 45 donors, humanitarian organisations and charity associations operate in the UAE to help needy people around the world.

Sheikh Hamdan affirmed that the UAE has expanded the umbrella of charitable work by supporting humanitarian actors in this field, urging them to find solutions that make it sustainable, broader and more influential in the segments and groups it targets.
How UAE charities are making a difference in millions of lives
Sheikh Hamdan noted that the ERC is one of these organisations that is committed to fulfilling the aspirations of the UAE and its leadership in promoting the charitable and humanitarian work regionally and internationally.

The Emirates Red Crescent, ERC, established 37 years ago, is one of the UAE's leading humanitarian and charity organisations and has an extensive history of international humanitarian support.

In 2019, the number of beneficiaries of the ERC's local programmes and aid campaigns valued at Dh140.7 million amounted to over one million citizens and residents from 87 nationalities, with its social aid valued at Dh115.3 million and seasonal projects at Dh30.5 million.

Globally, the value of relief operations carried out by the ERC in the first nine months of 2019 amounted to Dh50.2 million, benefitting 2.1 million people, including Yemenis, Syrian refugees, people affected by events in Myanmar, and those affected by natural disasters in Pakistan, South Sudan, Mauritania, Malawi and Mozambique.

The ERC supports over 114,000 orphans in the UAE and 25 other countries, and over 11 million people in 80 countries have benefitted from its Ramadan programmes.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives is the largest humanitarian organisation in the region. Since its establishment, its efforts have been based on humanitarian work, both development and relief work. In 2019, it spent Dh1.3 billion on its development, humanitarian, knowledge and empowerment programmes that benefitted over 71 million people in 108 countries.

The Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation is one of the key pillars of charity work in the UAE. It has helped various sectors, most notably the health, education and relief sectors, and established cultural, humanitarian and scientific research centres, as well as schools, higher education institutes and public libraries.

The Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation has helped reinforce the UAE's regional and international humanitarian stature.


More news from