UNIQLO donates $1 million for Syria emergency

The UN refugee agency today welcomes a US$1 million donation from Japan’s leading clothing retail chain, UNIQLO, to support urgent humanitarian needs in the Syria emergency.

The funds donated by UNIQLO’s parent company Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. will go towards UNHCR’s efforts to help more than 4 million people displaced within Syria and over 2 million Syrians who have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries since the conflict started in March 2011.

“UNIQLO’s contribution shows that there is an imperative to respond to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in and around Syria - not just by governments and aid agencies, but also by the corporate world,” said Daniel Endres, UNHCR’s Director of External Relations. “UNHCR appeals to other leading corporations to follow UNIQLO’s lead. Their help could make a life-saving difference to displaced families and others in great need.”

This is the largest cash contribution to the Syria emergency by a UNHCR corporate partner to date. In addition, UNIQLO has donated more than 220,000 items of clothing to displaced people and refugees in Syria and Jordan since 2011.

UNHCR has been working with the Japanese clothing firm since 2006, delivering millions of recycled clothing items to refugees in some 25 countries including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Serbia and Tajikistan. In 2011, UNIQLO donated $2 million - including $1 million from Chief Executive Officer Tadashi Yanai - to support the refugee and displacement emergency in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa.

The company has raised funds for refugees through initiatives like the “UT” charity T-shirt campaign. It also runs an internship programme at UNIQLO stores for refugees and others of concern to UNHCR, as well as a staff deployment programme to refugee operations.

Thirty months into the conflict in Syria, the scale of forced displacement has reached levels unparalleled in recent years. In June, UNHCR and its partners appealed to donors for US$4.4 billion for Syria relief operations this year. As part of this appeal, UNHCR has requested $1.4 billion to provide shelter, relief supplies, protection, health care and other life-saving interventions in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. To date the agency has only received 46 percent of what it needs to meet the growing humanitarian needs