According to UNHCR, more than a million refugees worldwide may go
hungry this year due to food shortages. Hundreds of thousands of refugees
have already experienced drastic reductions in their food rations.
Internally displaced persons in Azerbaijan face a complete cut in food
assistance in 2005.
While food ration cuts have occurred throughout the world, African
refugees have been particularly affected by the shortfalls. In October
2004, maize and pulse rations were cut by 25% in 13 refugee camps in
Tanzania. A recent UNHCR-WFP mission in November found rising rates
of malnutrition among 400,000 Burundian and Congolese refugees in Tanzania.
Meanwhile, the distribution of cereal and pulses was cut in half for
refugees in Zambia in late 2004. This may be followed by further reductions
in the overall food ration for Zambia’s refugees, putting as
many as 87,000 at risk of malnutrition.
Ethiopia and Kenya also face imminent cuts in food assistance for
refugees, and rations for refugees and IDPs in the Democratic Republic
of Congo may be cut as much as 30 percent.
As noted by the International Rescue Committee, Jesuit Refugee Service,
Refugees International, and the U.S. Committee for Refugees in March
2003, food ration cuts pose serious threats to the safety and well-being
of refugee populations, including: making refugees more vulnerable
to sexual exploitation and violence; further limiting already restricted
opportunities for refugees to ensure livelihoods; and contributing
to tensions and conflicts between refugees and host communities that
could result in the forcible repatriation of refugee populations by
host governments.
For more information on food security concerns for refugee
populations, view the folloing documents:
“WFP
and UNHCR Call for Urgent Aid for Refugees in Africa”
“Africa’s
Refugees Need Urgent Food Aid, Say UN Relief Agencies”
“African
Refugees Face Severe Food Shortages”
“Chad: First
Signs of Malnutrition Among Refugees, MSF Appeals for Urgent
UN Intervention”
“UN
Refugee and Food Officials Urge More Support for Africa"
Annual Pre-ExCom NGO Consultations
Each
year, over 200 representatives from more than 150 organizations meet
for the annual Pre-ExCom NGO Consultations, which precede the UNHCR
Executive Committee meetings. Participants include representatives
from national and international, advocacy and operational non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), as well as UN agencies. The meetings provide
an opportunity for dialogue and discussion on a range of issues of
interest to NGOs and UNHCR, alike.
Pre-ExCom 2004, held 28-30 September, experienced the largest turnout
in the event’s history of more than 20 years. Over 300 individuals
representing 222 NGOs, international organizations, and UN agencies
from 80 countries participated. The event featured a series of nine
workshops on a range of operational issues, as well as 5 regional
sessions.
InterAction was invited by UNHCR to co-organize a Pre-ExCom workshop
on security. Michael O’Neill, Director of Security at Save
the Children USA and co-chair of the InterAction Security Advisory
Group, served as a speaker at the session, which explored mechanisms
enhanced collaboration between UNHCR and its partners around security.
Issues raised at the workshop include coordination with military
forces and the preservation of humanitarian space, information-sharing
protocols, and the inclusion of implementing partners in Security
and Evacuation Plans.
For more information about this workshop or the annual Pre-ExCom
NGO Consultations, click here.
UNHCR Funding
In recent years, UNHCR faced
one of the most serious funding crises in its history. A global recession
and country budget cuts left the agency with a significant budgetary
shortfall in 2002. That year, UNHCR had an annual budget of $800 million
plus a $200 million supplemental budget for operations in Afghanistan.
The agency received only $900 million in donations from member states,
however, and as a result was required to cut nearly $100 million from
its programmatic budget.
Refugee agencies have noted the significant impacts of reduced funding
on refugee populations throughout the world, ranging from cuts in
food rations and other material assistance to the suspension of health,
education, and self-sufficiency services to the displaced.
The funding crisis has had a tremendous impact on African refugees.
In February 2003, UNHCR and the World Food Program (WFP) released
a joint appeal for urgent aid to refugee populations in Africa. Due
to the lack of funding, many food aid programs for African refugees
were curtailed. In some camps, daily food rations were cut by as
much as 50%, leaving refugees with inadequate food supplies, posing
increasing health risks, and rendering the displaced increasingly
vulnerable to exploitation and other protection concerns.
Inadequate resources continue to pose a significant challenge to
UNHCR in providing much-needed assistance and protection to refugees
and other persons of concern. In December 2004, the agency had received
$933 million out of its budget of $1.23 billion for that year.
The UNHCR recently launched an appeal for its 2005 budget totaling
$1.1 billion to assist an estimated 17 million refugees and other
persons of concern.
For more information about UNHCR funding, click
here.
Convention Plus
Following the Global Consultations
on International Protection and the endorsement of the Agenda for
Protection by the Executive Committee in October 2002, the High Commissioner
for Refugees called for the development of new tools for the protection
of refugees and persons of concern to complement the 1951 Refugee
Convention and its 1967 Protocol. These tools, in the form of multilateral
special agreements, are what the High Commissioner calls “Convention
Plus.”
Convention Plus special agreements will likely address such issues
as the creation of comprehensive plans of action (CPA) to ensure
more effective responses to mass influx; the targeting of development
assistance to achieve more equitable burden-sharing, promote self-reliance
of refugees and returnees, and achieve durable solutions to refugee
crises; the establishment of multilateral commitments for resettlement;
and the identification of roles and responsibilities of countries
of origin, transit, and destination in “irregular” or “secondary
movement” situations.
There will be avenues for NGO input into these processes.
The High Commissioner held the first Forum on Convention Plus in
June 2003.
For more information about the
High
Commissioner’s
Convention Plus initiative, click here.
