Underfunding left 'yawning gap' in UNHCR's ability to protect refugees in COVID

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), on Friday, highlighted the problem of underfunding that deprived lakhs of Afghan nationals of getting proper care from the agency. According to the agency High Commissioner, the widening gap created due to insufficient funding has also left raised questions over the agency's ability to protect forcibly displaced people worldwide from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, the emergency tops their list of the 10 most underfunded situations in 2021. UNHCR's Chief of Public Health Section, Ann Burton, who called for more global attention and funding support informed only one-third of the budgeted requirements of USD 924 million has been received so far.

She reiterated that the COVID has damaged forcibly displaced and stateless people in ways that reach far beyond the risk posed by the virus itself. Further, she added that the failure to address their grievances would deepen their plight. "Despite progress in many locations where UNHCR is working, we continue to see new cases and people continue to die. While safe and effective vaccines can relieve pressures on health systems and save lives, vaccine inequity continues to hit the hardest in many refugee-hosting states," said the statement released by the UNHCR. "We know that 86 per cent of refugees are hosted in developing countries. However, some 80 per cent of all vaccine doses have been given in high- and upper-middle-income countries."

UNHRC appealed to international community to address refugees suffering due to pandemic

The statement further said that the low-income countries, which were already facing difficulties in tackling their own countrymen, would not be able to the bulk of the world’s refugees. She appealed to the international community to add the extra needs posed by hosting refugees. The economic repercussions of the pandemic have led their business and workplaces to close, with their 'precarious livelihood often the first to go'. Forcibly displaced people often do not have access to measures such as distance learning for schoolchildren or subsidies to offset the economic impact provided by governments, noted the UNHCR official. 

This has meant that people cannot afford to pay rent or afford daily necessities, such as food, which in turn increases the risk of exploitation and gender-based violence, she warned, before reiterating a call for States to include refugees in national social safety nets and for donors to support UNHCR help fill that gap. "As UNHCR, we reiterate our call on states to share excess doses with COVAX in a timely way, to address the global vaccine inequity and avoid prolonging the pandemic," said UNHCR's Chief of Public Health Section. "UNHCR calls on states to include refugees in national social safety nets and on donors to support us, in order to help fill that gap," the UNHCR chief concluded.

(With inputs from ANI)

(Image: AP)