U.S. Contributes To UNHCR
U.S. has now provided $720 million, including more than $100 million toward emergency appeals.
U.S. is providing to-date approximately $720 million, including more than $100 million toward emergency appeals for populations from Syria, Sudan, and Mali. “The United States is pleased to announce its third contribution this fiscal year toward the 2012 operations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,” U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Spokesperson said recently in a statement to the press. “With this contribution of more than $41 million, the United States is providing to-date approximately $720 million to the organization, including more than $100 million toward emergency appeals for vulnerable populations from Syria, Sudan, and Mali.” These contributions are funded through the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, and help to advance the work of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees initiatives globally. U.S. funding will support protection and life-saving assistance as well as refugee repatriation, local integration, and resettlement. U.S. funding swill also support the provision of water, shelter, food, healthcare, and education to refugees, internally displaced persons, and other persons under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ care and protection in countries such as South Sudan, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Chad, Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon. The most recent contribution will support the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Annual and Supplementary Program activities. $25.4 million of the contribution is slated for Africa; $9.6 million for the Syria Regional Response Plan; $1.9 million for Asia and Pacific; $2.8 million for UNHCR’s Headquarters; and $1.5 million for UNHCR’s Global Operations. A senior U.S. State Department official, briefing the press recently in Accra, Ghana, cited the need for additional assistance to Syrian refugees currently displaced in Turkey and other neighboring countries, as fighting continues to spread in Syria. The Syria Regional Response Plan aims to alleviate the suffering of the more than 50,000 refugees in Turkey and other countries along Syrian borders. “We continue to salute the vital work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,” the U.S. Department of State’s press release said, “its many partner non-governmental organizations, and refugee-hosting countries in providing protection to displaced populations around the world.”