Report: U.A.E. Suqia campaign is quality addition to initiatives that enhance the U.A.E.'s leading role in humanitarian action

Abu Dhabi (WAM): The new humanitarian initiative of U.AE. Suqia, launched by Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, forms a quality addition to a series of initiatives that enhance the U.A.E.'s leading role in the field of humanitarian action and embodies the efforts of the country and its leadership in meeting humanitarian needs and improving life in needy areas. According to a report prepared by WAM, the importance of the initiative highlights the engagement of the people of the U.A.E., its government and its private institutions in a great humanitarian project which aims to provide clean drinking water to five million people in countries that suffer from water shortages. H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, has directed Dubai Government entities to participate in the U.AE. Suqia campaign launched by U.A.E. Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. U.AE. Suqia aims to provide access to fresh drinking water for 5 million people around the world who suffer from an acute shortage of potable water. Sheikh Hamdan reiterated that the U.A.E.'s humanitarian activities stem from the country's commitment to help the underprivileged, and reflects the genuine characteristics of the Emirati people, which are the values they learned from the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan. Sheikh Hamdan also re-asserted the fact that the U.A.E. is the world's capital of charitable work and humanitarian activities. Sheikh Hamdan's directives to engage the entities of Dubai Government in the U.AE. Suqia campaign mirror the leadership's enthusiasm to boost the U.A.E.' s position as a global centre for philanthropy, in addition to its continuing efforts to enhance the standard of living for millions of people around the world. He said, "Government departments are an integral part of the U.A.E.'s social fabric, which imposes many responsibilities and obligations on them. These departments should stand up to these responsibilities. All government departments must unify their efforts to serve and support the U.AE. Suqia campaign. We also call on every citizen and expatriate to interact with this drive." Sheikh Hamdan's directives come in line with the initiative's ambitious plan to help large numbers of people that lack very basic human needs and to participate in solving the global drinking water problem that threatens many countries. Experts and observers have agreed that this initiative has much significance. First, it was launched in the Holy Month of Ramadan, a month of blessing that the wise leadership has used to launch many initiatives, when President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered the release of about a thousand prisoners and the payment of their liabilities and debts, along with similar initiatives from Their Highnesses the Supreme Council Members and Rulers of the Emirates as a humanitarian gesture aimed at reuniting the families of these inmates. Also, earlier directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan to launch the U.A.E.'s vaccination campaign against polio to over 3.6 million Pakistani children has strengthened the great humanitarian image of the U.A.E.'s leadership, which spares no efforts to support the needy people. Secondly, the U.A.E. Suqia initiative came at a time when His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum realised the serious danger of the lack of potable water in the world as United Nations' statistics indicate that there are more than 880 million people around the world without access to healthy and clean water and 3.6 million people, 90 percent of them under the age of five, die every year because of thirst and diseases caused by lack of clean water. And thirdly, the initiative confirms that the U.A.E. deserves to occupy the global top level in humanitarian support to countries and people in need, as is demonstrated by international statistics in this regard. Suqia is the latest in a continuing series of humanitarian initiatives launched by U.A.E. to improve the living conditions of a large number of people around the world. These include the Campaign to Clothe One Million Children Around the World, which H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid launched last year and which exceeded its set target after only ten days. During the launch of the U.A.E. Suqia initiative, H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid re-affirmed that U.A.E. is the capital of benevolence and that the beginning of Ramadan sees the country launch more humanitarian initiatives for the needy, reflecting the interest of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid in extending help to the underprivileged worldwide and channelling U.A.E. humanitarian aid, including water, the source of life, into needy countries. Government and private sector entities are joining efforts to make the charity initiative a success, with Emiratis and expatriates being the most important element. U.A.E. people by nature are the source of benevolence which benefit people around the world. The U.A.E. Suqia initiative was launched amid the growing issue of water scarcity which has become worse over the past few decades, threatening the lives of millions of people and denoting a serious deterioration in the situation if countries and involved international organisations do not take action and draw up emergency plans and strategies for radical solutions in threatened areas. The World Health Organisation, WHO, says more than 3.4 million people die each year from water-related illness. Reports by international organisations indicate that children are increasingly affected by clean water scarcity as child well-being and development relies primarily on the quality and availability of drinking water - which is damaged around the world due to biological and chemical pollutants which cause life-threatening diseases in children in particular. United Nations statistics show that 85% of the world population lives in the driest half of the planet and that 783 million people do not have access to clean water. The U.A.E., since its establishment, has been following an effective approach to international humanitarian and charity aid that is based on the consolidation of the principles of assisting others. – Emirates News Agency, WAM