UNHCR: Refugee Realities - Global Needs Assessment

The Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has released an assessment of the plight of refugees in eight countries. The pilot report, Refugee Realities - Global Needs Assessment, shows disturbing gaps between basic needs and services offered, including shelter, food, sanitation and prevention of sexual violence. In early 2008, a pilot Global Needs Assessment (GNA) using a methodology drawn from UNHCR’s Strengthening Protection Capacity Project, was carried out in eight countries - Cameroon, Ecuador, Georgia, Rwanda, Thailand, the United Republic of Tanzania, Yemen and Zambia. It focused on the unmet needs of refugees, internally displaced people, returnees, asylum seekers and stateless people.

“A startling 30% of needs were unmet - a third of them in basic and essential services,” the report said. “Results showed a clear need to improve and ensure access to asylum systems with better reception facilities and procedures, registration, documentation and border monitoring.

“Women and children require better protection with improved prevention and response measures for sexual abuse and violence, as well as strengthened child protection programmes,” the report stresses. It calls for US$63.5 million from donors to fill 2009 budget gaps. There are an estimated 11.4 million refugees globally, in addition to 4.2 million displaced Palestinians.

In 2009, UNHCR will launch an annual GNA in its operations worldwide aimed at comprehensively mapping the real state of the world’s refugees and people of concern under its mandate. The GNA will clearly outline their total needs, the costs of meeting them and the consequences of any gaps. The GNA will be a blueprint for planning, decision-making and action with governments, partners, refugees and people of concern. It will also underpin UNHCR’s advocacy and fund-raising efforts.

To address the needs gap in the eight pilot countries, UNHCR has included requirements totalling $63.5 million in its 2009 budget. In a parallel effort, all UNHCR field offices provided their rough estimates of the financial requirements to meet the total needs of each population of concern. The global total reached US$3.8 billion, highlighting the stark reality that UNHCR has only a portion of the funding required for its responsibilities towards 31.7 million people of concern at the current annual funded budget of US$1.8 billion.

In an address to UNHCR’s annual Executive Committee, the Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Erika Feller, said too many refugees face intolerance and denial of their rights by the international community.

"Intolerance is not solely linked to refugee arrivals, but it is part of the asylum equation, in subtle and not so subtle forms. It impacts border control measures, refugee status decisions, resettlement and integration, and the sustainability of refugee and asylum policies in many countries," she said.

The report is available online.

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