The United Nations (UN) Refugee Agency, United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR), has cried out that following major cuts to humanitarian budgets, around 11.6 million people forced to flee their homes are at risk of losing direct assistance this year.
“This is the biggest humanitarian aid cut in over a decade,” the UN Refugee Agency said in its July newsletter.
It explained that people forced to flee are among the hardest hit by the global humanitarian funding crisis.
“Across the world, families who fled war, persecution, or violence are now seeing the support they relied on vanish, leaving them dangerously exposed. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is being forced to suspend critical protection assistance and support for solutions, even as needs continue to rise,” the agency explained.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, 31% of UNHCR programmes have been cut in the East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region.
“Conflict in Sudan and renewed violence in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continue to cause forced displacement, which is further worsened by extreme weather events and food insecurity.
“The region’s response capacity to new refugee influxes is under severe strain, resulting in significant reductions in support for gender-based violence survivors. Education aid has also been cut sharply, with estimates of more than half of the at-risk children in the area facing a lack of access to specialised services, raising their vulnerability, just as other aid and services are also decreasing. Without extra aid, deteriorating conditions could lead to further displacement and threaten regional stability.
“In Southern Africa, displacement is driven by armed conflict in the DRC and Mozambique. An increasing number of people forced to flee will not have access to key services such as shelter, education, sexual violence support, and water access, which have been severely scaled down,” the UN Refugee Agency stated.
It calls for regular donations to UNHCR to support refugees.
