Funding shortfall risks critical humanitarian response for Syrian refugees

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is increasingly troubled at a looming severe funding shortfall. Some US$270 million is urgently needed to ensure that the most vulnerable among Syria’s refugees and internally displaced do not go without vital protection and assistance this year. These funds include critical preparations for the oncoming winter.

Currently, US$196.5 million would allow UNHCR to continue essential programmes until the end of the year in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. This includes cash assistance, protection, health and shelter activities. Overall, there are more than 5.6 million Syrian refugees registered across the region – 2.6 million of whom are children. And the needs of families are great. Without support people resort to desperate measures such as going without healthcare or education.

As well as funding for the refugees UNHCR is also calling for US$73 million to help address the most acute and pressing needs of displaced people inside Syria. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced since the start of the year, and many now rely on humanitarian support to meet basic daily needs. Additional funding would allow UNHCR to rapidly scale up activities across key sectors such as protection, shelter, and the provision of basic aid, helping up to 1.8 million people.

Part of the urgent funding requirements both inside Syria and in neighboring countries will go towards preparing UNHCR’s winterization response, to ensure that vulnerable families receive adequate support well before winter arrives. We estimate that 1.3 million vulnerable refugees are in dire need of essential winter support – the costs of which amount to US$96 million.

UNHCR’s 2018 total financial requirements for protection and assistance for the Syria situation amounts to US$1.97 billion. As of September, only US$610 million has been received – which is 31 percent of the requirement.

The US$270 million of urgently needed funds represents only the most pressing and critical needs of Syrian refugees and IDPs within UNHCR’s overall unfunded requirements in 2018. UNHCR is grateful to all state and private sector donors for their support thus far which enabled us to manage an uninterrupted humanitarian response to date. Quick disbursement of existing pledges and commitments, as well as additional funding, is essential for managing the humanitarian response of this scale in a flexible and timely manner. It is imperative to avoid more suffering and more uncertainty for a population that has endured so much.

Original source: UNHCR
Published on 11 September 2018