Geneva (Antara) – The UN Agency for Refugees, UNHCR, announced Monday (6/16) that they would reduce the activity and decrease the number of employees considerably after the humanitarian budget decreased dramatically compared to last year.
“When he saw a difficult financial reality, UNHCR was forced to reduce the overall operational scale,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in her official statement.
He added that UNHCR will only focus on the activities that have the most impact on refugees with a slimmer head office and regional agency.
As part of savings, UNHCR has closed the office or reduces staff in different countries and lowers nearly 50 percent of the higher functions at Geneva headquarters and regional agencies.
In total, around 3,500 positions will be removed, after hundreds of contract workers who have already fired.
UNHCR estimates that the relocation will lower personnel costs worldwide by 30 percent.
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Although priority is still being given to the region with the most urgent refugee needs, a number of important programs in the field of financial, health, education and water and sanitary facilities are also influenced.
The UN agency said he collaborated with partners and guest countries to minimize the impact of budget reduction.
UNHCR is also investigating new concepts, such as sharing offices with other UN bodies and the use of technology for efficiency.
“We are very grateful to the donors who have improved since the beginning of this year,” said Grandi.
“Assistance offers stability in very uncertain situations. Help not only saves lives, but also prevents more costs in the future.”
UNHCR estimates that total financing will only be as great this year as a budget in the past, although the number of refugees has doubled to more than 122 million people.
“Despite the fact that they are confronted with painful trimming and losing many devoted colleagues, our dedication to refugees remains unmanageable,” Grandi said.
Source: Anadolu
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Translator: Cindy Frishanti Octavia
Editor: Anton Santoso
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