Saudi Gazette report

NEW YORK — Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah, advisor to the Royal Court and supervisor general of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief), said that giving charity and zakat is one of the pillars of Islam, and it greatly helps people in need. He made the remarks while attending on Tuesday the high-level side event organized by UNHCR under the title "The role of Islamic philanthropy in responding to the global refugee crisis." The event was held on the sidelines of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Al-Rabeeah thanked UNHCR for organizing this significant discussion on the role of Islamic charitable work. The KSrelief chief said that the Kingdom carries out charity work under the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman and that the Kingdom was among the first countries to join the Global Islamic Fund for Refugees (GIFR), which was established by UNHCR and the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), as a member of the Steering Committee, which was established in September 2022 and to whose endowment fund the Kingdom provided a financial contribution of $10 million.

Al-Rabeeah noted that the Kingdom cares deeply about refugees, and has forged partnerships and collaborations with concerned authorities to provide help. He also said that the Kingdom looks forward to creating sustainable mechanisms which ensure that the basic needs of all refugees are met, and enable them to live safely and in dignity in host countries until they return to their homelands.

Al-Rabeeah thanked UNHCR and ISFD for launching GIFR, and urged friendly countries to share the burden of providing the funding necessary to secure sustainable resources for millions of refugees and displaced persons, as well as for host communities.