Geneva: A UNHCR official highlighted alarming consequences of significant funding cuts that are depriving the world’s most vulnerable refugees of critical support, exposing them to heightened risks of violence, poverty, and forced repatriation.
According to Union of OIC News Agencies, Elizabeth Tan, the organization’s director of international protection, emphasized at a press conference that two-thirds of refugees find refuge in neighboring countries, many of which are already resource-limited. The reduction in funding is severely impacting these refugees and their host communities, which are already under significant strain.
Tan pointed out that essential protection programs have been scaled back or discontinued in various regions, resulting in a dire lack of support for women, children, and survivors of violence. She highlighted the situation in South Sudan, where 75 percent of UNHCR’s spaces for women and girls are no longer operational, leaving up to 80,000 victims without access to crucial medical care, legal assistance, or economic aid.