Syria Today | Counselling centre for Iraqi refugees opens in Deir ez-Zor

Counselling centre for Iraqi refugees opens in Deir ez-Zor

A new centre in Deir ez-Zor will provide psychological support services to Iraqi refugees.

The centre was inaugurated on May 5 by the Minister of State for Syrian Arab Red Crescent Affairs (SARC) Bashar al-Sha'ar and the Danish Ambassador to Syria Christina Markus Lassen.

According to a SARC press release, the centre will also provide educational and training facilities and information sessions for children and adults, as well as organise sporting activities and creative workshops for children. It will be open to everyone, with a particular emphasis on providing services to the region's Iraqi refugee population.

"This centre will play the role of a rehabilitation centre," Deir ez-Zor Governor Hussein Arnous said.

Funded by the Danish government, the centre in Deir ez-Zor is the tenth to be opened by SARC in cooperation with the Danish Red Cross, to provide support services to Iraqi refugees. Some 120,000 people have made use of the facilities at the centres since the first one opened in mid-2008.

"Syria has shown an extraordinary and generous effort to support her Iraqi neighbours in need and I am really happy that Denmark can assist Syria with this enormous task," Lassen said. "By combining our efforts we can help the Iraqi refugees live a better life in this country and, hopefully, help them reintegrate more easily when one day they return to Iraq."