Millions of refugees at risk of losing vital aid amid aggressive funding cuts

Geneva, Switzerland - Massive cuts to humanitarian budgets risk leaving more than 11 million refugees without desperately needed aid, the United Nations warned Friday.

Massive cuts to humanitarian budgets risk leaving more than 11 million refugees without desperately needed aid, the United Nations warned Friday.
Massive cuts to humanitarian budgets risk leaving more than 11 million refugees without desperately needed aid, the United Nations warned Friday.  © Sanaullah SEIAM / AFP

That corresponds to a full third of the number reached last year by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

In a new report, the agency highlighted a deadly confluence of factors pummelling millions of refugees and displaced people globally: "rising displacement, shrinking funding and political apathy".

"We are right now facing a deadly cocktail," UNHCR's head of external relations, Dominique Hyde, told reporters in Geneva.

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"We are incredibly concerned for refugees and displaced populations around the world."

Dramatic aid cuts by the US and other countries have left UNHCR and other aid organizations facing gaping shortfalls.

UNHCR has said it needs $10.6 billion to assist the world's refugees this year, but so far it has received just 23% of that amount.

As a result, the agency said it was seeing $1.4 billion of essential programs being cut or put on hold.

Aid cuts by US and other countries leaves refugees in danger

Dramatic aid cuts by the US and other countries have left UNHCR and other aid organizations facing gaping shortfalls.
Dramatic aid cuts by the US and other countries have left UNHCR and other aid organizations facing gaping shortfalls.  © Iakovos HATZISTAVROU / AFP

The impact, Hyde cautioned, risks being that "up to 11.6 million refugees and people forced to flee are losing access to humanitarian assistance provided by UNHCR".

The agency said families were being forced to choose between feeding their children, buying medicines, and paying rent.

Malnutrition is especially severe for refugees fleeing war-ravaged Sudan, where the UN has been forced to reduce food rations and nutrition screening, she said, decrying the "devastating impact for children who have fled to Chad".

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The cuts have also forced UNHCR to pause the movement of new arrivals from border areas to safer locations in Chad and South Sudan, "leaving thousands stranded in remote locations", the agency said.

Health and education services for refugees are also being scaled back worldwide.

In camps in Bangladesh hosting nearly a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, education programmes for some 230,000 children risk being suspended.

UNHCR also said its entire health program in Lebanon was at risk of being shuttered by the end of the year.

Funding for aid programs is not the only issue.

Last month, UNHCR announced it would need to cut 3,500 staff – nearly a third of its workforce worldwide – amid the budget shortfall.

Cover photo: Sanaullah SEIAM / AFP

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