Govt gives more to UN refugee fund
An extra €800,000 has been granted to aid the United Nations’ refugee agency, which is under enormous strain coping with a large number of natural disasters, it was confirmed today.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the tsunami disaster, the ongoing problems in south Sudan, Darfur and Chad and the earthquake in Pakistan had left the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stretched to its limits.
“In Pakistan alone, the agency is providing basic supplies to over 100,000 displaced people.
"These are the most vulnerable people, who have lost everything. We have a duty to help them try and get their lives back to normal,” Mr Ahern said.
“Ireland is a strong supporter of the work of UNHCR and, following a personal appeal by High Commissioner Antonio Guterres, I have decided to make an additional commitment of $1m (€847,580) to UNHCR’s core budget.
"These additional resources will help the agency to better respond to the growing needs of refugees and displaced people for the remainder of this very difficult year.”
Ireland has already provided a total of €8.89m in core funding to the UNHCR, the former office of Mary Robinson, this year, and also gave €1.55m in response to specific appeals.
The Pakistan army has estimated a total of 75,000 people have come down from the upper valleys since the earthquake hit on October 8 and the UN refugee agency has transported more than 290,0000 blankets, 22,000 tents, 33,000 jerry cans, 100,0000 plastic sheets and many tens of thousands of other relief items to the country with the help of other organisations.
The agency also co-ordinated the nation-wide transitional shelter effort in Sri Lanka, after the tsunami hit the coast on December 26, 2004, killing thousands and displacing nearly 800,000 people.
