Wedad and her thee children, inside their tent in Al Waleed Camp in May, will benefit from resettlement to Iceland. © UNHCR/M.Sidky

Press release

Thursday, 11 December 2008

Appeal for refugee funds elicits promising response from Nordic donors

Meeting of global needs remains a challenge

Stockholm -- As the number of refugees and displaced people around the world continues to rise, donors pledged some US$463 million towards UNHCR's 2009 programmes, at UNHCR's annual pledging conference in Geneva earlier this week. This amounts to about a quarter of the UN Refugee Agency's total needs for the year ahead, amounting to some US$1.86 billion.

"This is an encouraging outcome at a time when donors are faced by the uncertainties provoked by the current economic turbulence," said Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. But he called on donor countries to come up with the balance of resources required to meet global needs. He appealed to countries to provide additional contributions early in the New Year to ensure that assistance and protection are not interrupted. "Without additional funds, the outlook for the world's displaced is uncertain", he said.

The High Commissioner paid special tribute to the 10 countries that provide more than 75% of UNHCR's total budget while appealing to others to increase their support. Among UNHCR’s firm supporters are the Nordic governments.

At the conference, Sweden pledged 620 m SEK, up from 564 m last year. Norway pledged 290 m NOK, up from 240 m last year. The trend for Sweden and Norway is therefore positive, with steadily increasing contributions.

Finland pledged for the first time, stating that, subject to parliamentary and ministerial approval, they would give at least as much as last year.

Denmark pledged 130 m DKK, which is the same as last year.

In addition to the core contribution pledged at the annual pledging conference, UNHCR is also benefiting from additional contributions from all the Nordic towards specific programs and operations worldwide during the course of the year.

In 2008, Denmark has so far funded UNHCR with DKK 215 m, Finland’s contribution stands at EUR 17 m, Norway has provided NOK 307 m, and Sweden SEK 647 m.

As a block, the Nordics are UNHCR’s second largest donor, after the US.

Overall the pledging conference was better than some feared beforehand. Most countries increased their contributions, but due to currency fluctuations the end result was below last year. The Grand total ended at USD 462,853,612, compared with 492 m last year.

The money is needed to help some 31.7 million refugees, stateless and internally displaced people around the world.

Several donor representatives at the conference praised reform efforts by the High Commissioner aimed at making UNHCR more efficient and ensuring that more resources were allocated directly to helping refugees and other persons of concern to the agency.

With almost 97 percent of UNHCR's budget coming from voluntary donations and only 3 percent funded by the regular UN budget, the agency is extremely vulnerable to any reduction in funding by major donors.

UNHCR’s 2009 Global Appeal can be found in the UNHCR public website:
www.unhcr.org