World faces unprecedented refugee crisis - UNHCR
SWITZERLAND: UN refugee agency chief Antonio Guterres warned Monday
that a surge in the number of refugees around the world was causing a
crisis that was unprecedented in recent history.
“Already in 2011, as crisis after crisis unfolded, more than 800,000
people crossed borders in search of refuge, an average of more than
2,000 refugees every day, and this was higher than at any time in the
last decade,” Guterres said in an opening address to the annual UNHCR
Executive Committee. And the situation is getting worse, he said, with
more than 700,000 people have fled from the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Mali, Sudan and Syria so far this year.
He said the cost of helping the world’s more than 42 million forcibly
displaced people was also escalating fast due to drawn-out and
large-scale displacements in places like Afghanistan and Somalia. “We
are at a moment when the demands on us are rising while the means
available to respond have remained at a similar level to last year,” he
said, pointing out that UNHCR operations in Africa were especially
underfunded.
“At this moment, we have no room for any unforeseen needs. No
reserves available. In today’s unpredictable operating environment, this
is a cause for deep concern,” he said.
The UNHCR’s Executive Committee, made up of 87 member states, is set
this week to review its annual budget of $3.92 billion for 2013 and to
look over the organisation’s programmes.
Guterres appealed to committee members to do more to help address the
needs of “all those who find themselves uprooted from their homes and
communities, as the crises of today and tomorrow continue to unfold.”
AFP
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