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UN Refugee Agency Sees Cutbacks - UN Finance - Global Policy Forum UN Refugee Agency Sees Cutbacks
The Associated Press
June 1, 2001The head of the United Nations refugee agency said Friday in Geneva it is cutting staff and aid programs because donor countries are failing to come up with the money they promised. The agency plans to cut 939 of its staff of 5,000 to save $95 million this year. Some of this will come from the winding down of operations in the Balkans and East Timor, but other aid work, including projects to help returning refugees reintegrate, will also be reduced. Some of the cuts, however, will be offset by the creation of 174 new posts in regions faced by the most serious refugee crises, such as West Africa.
``What we have done is painful but absolutely necessary,'' said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers. UNHCR's budget has declined from $1.3 billion in 1995 to $931 million last year. It expects some $810 million in government contributions this year — far below its initial budget of $955 million. The budget is approved each year by the 57 U.N. members that make up its executive committee. But the Geneva-based agency said a green light for the budget did not mean countries would come up with the money.
UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said donor fatigue was one of the reasons governments are failing to come up with the money. ``For most of the past decade we had high profile refugee situations — the Balkans, Rwanda, Timor,'' he said. ``In the last couple of years we have not had those kinds of high visibility emergencies, but the need is just as great in places like Afghanistan, West Africa, or Congo.'' More than 90 percent of the UNHCR's money comes from 10 countries with the United States accounting for 35 percent of donations. The UNHCR cares for 22 million refugees worldwide.
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