UN Calls For Humanitarian Response For Refugees

About $135 million is needed from international communities to respond to the humanitarian and development needs of refugees says the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Mr Volker Turk, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, UNHCR, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of the 2nd Regional Protection Dialogue on the Lake Chad Basin held in Abuja.

The 2019-2021 Humanitarian Response Strategy (HRS) and the Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRRP), were seeking $848 million and $135 million respectively to continue provision of food, water, shelter and protection to the most vulnerable people in Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

The Humanitarian Response Strategy also articulates a collective vision for the next three years of humanitarian action and marked the first time in Nigeria that humanitarian actors were adopting a multi-year approach.

Turk said that about seven million people were affected by insecurity in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states with 2.5million internally displaced persons in Nigeria. According to him, the refugees’ response plan is for refugees in Nigeria and other neighbouring countries.

“As you know, about seven million people are affected by the insecurity and violence in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, there are 2.5million persons whose life has been disrupted.

“Because they have to flee to other parts internally within Nigeria, over 1.5million has also crossed into neighbouring Cameroun, Niger and Chad.

“We also have about half a million internally displaced people in Cameroun, it shows that people get displaced because of the insecurity.

“And it’s so crucial for us to find ways and means to be able to respond to their humanitarian needs. We have asked the international community to make available, 135million dollars.

“Based on needs assessment that we have done, including host communities, we need to respond to their humanitarian and development needs and that is precisely what the refugee response plan is trying to achieve,“ he said.

Turk said that the 2019-2021 humanitarian response strategy for the North-East Nigeria and 2019-2020 regional refugee response plans were launched to provide better humanitarian activities for the people who were affected. He said that it was crucial that the international community worked with neighbouring countries and Nigeria to respond to the very need that the people lacked.

“We really need to do everything not to forget our brothers and sisters in the North East and in the neighbouring countries and this is why we have launched the humanitarian response plan.

“As well as the refugees response plan so that we can provide better services, better humanitarian activities for the people who are affected,“ he said.