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Saudi Arabia donates US$10.8 million for UNHCR projects in Pakistan

News Stories, 22 June 2010

The beneficiaries of the Saudi funding will be internally displaced Pakistanis, like these women and children.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, June 22 (UNHCR) – The Saudi Arabian government has granted more than US$10 million to the UN refugee agency for its operations to help tens of thousands of forcibly displaced people in Pakistan.

The Saudi Fund for Development pledged US$10.8 million to UNHCR under a memorandum of understanding signed on Sunday, World Refugee Day, in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The document was signed by Yousef I. Al-Bassam, vice chairman and managing director of the Fund, and UNHCR Regional Representative Yacoub El Hillo.

"This is a timely and important contribution which is a testimony of the gesture of solidarity of the people and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the people and government of Pakistan at this difficult time," UNHCR Representative to Pakistan Mengesha Kebede said in Islamabad.

UNHCR will use the funds to purchase food and relief items for tens of thousands of Pakistani civilians who were displaced by violence in the north-western of the country in 2008 and last year.

The items include 25,000 tents, 379,200 blankets, 126,400 plastic sheets, 100,000 sleeping mattresses and 25,000 kitchen sets in addition to 20,000 food packs, which will be distributed during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan starting in August.

Some 920,000 civilians are still internally displaced in Pakistan, including 124,000 in special camps.

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UNHCR and Partners Tackle Malnutrition in Mauritania Camp

The UN refugee agency has just renewed its appeal for funds to help meet the needs of tens of thousands of Malian refugees and almost 300,000 internally displaced people. The funding UNHCR is seeking is needed, among other things, for the provision of supplementary and therapeutic food and delivery of health care, including for those suffering from malnutrition. This is one of UNHCR's main concerns in the Mbera refugee camp in Mauritania, which hosts more than 70,000 Malians. A survey on nutrition conducted last January in the camp found that more than 13 per cent of refugee children aged under five suffer from acute malnutrition and more than 41 per cent from chronic malnutrition. Several measures have been taken to treat and prevent malnutrition, including distribution of nutritional supplements to babies and infants, organization of awareness sessions for mothers, increased access to health facilities, launch of a measles vaccination campaign and installation of better water and sanitation infrastructure. Additional funding is needed to improve the prevention and response mechanisms. UNHCR appealed last year for US$144 million for its Mali crisis operations in 2013, but has received only 32 per cent to date. The most urgent needs are food, shelter, sanitation, health care and education.

The photographs in this set were taken by Bechir Malum.

UNHCR and Partners Tackle Malnutrition in Mauritania Camp

Chad's other refugee crisis

While attention focuses on the Darfuris in eastern Chad, another refugee crisis unfolds in southern Chad.

A second refugee crisis has been quietly unfolding in the south of Chad for the past few years, getting little attention from the media and the international community. Some 60,000 refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) are hosted there in five camps and receive regular assistance from UNHCR. But funding for aid and reintegration projects remains low. Refugees have been fleeing fighting between rebel groups and governmental forces in northern CAR. 17,000 new refugees have arrived from northern CAR to south-eastern Chad since the beginning of 2009.

Chad's other refugee crisis

Iraqi Refugees in Syria: 2,000 New Arrivals Daily

The UN refugee agency is increasingly alarmed over the continuing violence in Iraq and distressed about the lack of an international humanitarian response to deal with the massive numbers of people being displaced. After an assessment mission in November last year, UNHCR officials warned that the agency was facing an even larger humanitarian crisis than it had prepared for in 2002-03. But UNHCR and other organisations are sorely lacking in funds to cope with the growing numbers of displaced.

In an effort to fill the massive gap in funding, UNHCR in January 2007 launched a US$60 million appeal to cover its protection and assistance programmes for Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey, as well as non Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people within strife torn Iraq.

The longer the Iraq conflict goes on, the more difficult it will become for the hundreds of thousands of displaced and the communities that are trying to help them – both inside and outside Iraq. Because the burden on host communities and governments in the region is enormous, it is essential that the international community support humanitarian efforts.

Posted on 5 February 2007