Funding crisis impact on refugees

The funding crisis faced by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is adversely affecting the implementation of a wide range of programmes for the welfare of the world's refugees.

Funding by donor nations for international refugee programmes has been seriously inadequate during 2002, triggering major assistance cutbacks in refugee camps around the world, the United States Committee for Refugees (USCR) said in an update on Wednesday.

It said UNHCR currently had a funding shortfall of nearly US $200 million and expected to end the year some $170 million short of the $1.04 billion needed to address basic refugee needs. Dozens of other private international humanitarian organisations engaged in refugee relief work were confronting similar funding problems, it added.

Documenting more than 60 examples from around the world, based on reporting by relief agencies, it described the impact of the crisis and assistance cutbacks on the day-to-day lives of refugees.

Of the 60 examples, 42 are from African countries. Some of these programmes are being implemented with cutbacks while others have been cancelled. The areas they cover include reintegration, shelter, food, repatriation, resettlement, training such as in literacy, human rights, education, general aid and protection, self-sufficiency, relief deliveries, refugee registration, health, housing, water and sanitation.

Programmes to prevent sexual and gender-based violence against female refugees have been curtailed by funding cuts despite investigations this year pointing to a persistent problem of violence and exploitation committed against refugees women and girls, the update said.

Many workshops to build awareness of the problem among government officials, aid workers, refugee leaders and refugee women were cancelled, according reports USCR obtained from UNHCR.

The affected countries and regions are: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Croatia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Mexico, Namibia, Nepal, Russia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Turkey, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia and the Horn of Africa.