UNHCR launchs campaign to provide shelter for 2 mln most-needed refugees

The UN refugee agency UNHCR on Wednesday launched a new global campaign to raise more fund mainly from the private sector so as to provide shelter for some 2 million most-needed refugees.

Called "Nobody Left Outside," UNHCR said its efforts to do so were facing a half-billion-dollar deficit, saying that the huge shortfall in funds for sheltering refugees is severely undermining efforts to tackle the biggest global displacement crisis since World War II.

"Some 60 million people are today forcibly displaced, almost 20 million of them refugees who have been forced to flee across international borders, and the rest people displaced within their own countries. Humanitarian funding is failing to keep pace," the UN agency said in a statement Wednesday.

"Shelter is the foundation stone for refugees to survive and recover, and should be considered a non-negotiable human right," said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Nobody Left Outside campaign aims to raise funds from the private sector to build or improve shelter for 2 million refugees by 2018.

UNHCR said it purchases 70,000 tents and more than 2 million tarpaulins every year, but as the agency continues to face high levels of shelter needs and with limited funding available, operations often face the difficult decision to prioritize emergency shelter for the maximum number of people of concern, over an investment in more durable and sustainable solutions.

Outside of camps, refugees rely on UNHCR support to find housing and pay rent in towns and cities across dozens of countries bordering conflict zones, and these operations are expected to cost 724 million U.S. dollars in 2016, yet only 158 million U.S. dollars is currently available.

According to UNHCR, the private sector is an increasingly important donor source for it, contributing more than 8 per cent of the organization's overall funding in 2015. Endit