EuropaWorld 22/12/2000 European Parliament Reaffirms Full Support for UNHCR

In a plenary session vote last week to mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the European Parliament adopted a resolution underlining the importance of the Geneva based Agency's work and reaffirming its fullest possible support. The Resolution also called on the Commission and Member States to base future EU asylum policies on the highest refugee protection standards.

UNHCR said that it was particularly pleased with the Resolution's call for the European Union to provide political and financial support to the agency and to ensure predictability, flexibility and geographic balance of EU contributions. "We also welcome the call for states to urgently take all measures to safeguard the physical security and property of UNHCR staff," said agency spokesperson Delphine Marie.

The Agency last week launched an appeal to fill its budget of nearly $1 billion needed to fulfil its remit in 2001. Three small European countries - Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway - have already pledged $81 million. The United States has pledged $125 million.

The pledges have followed hard lobbying by UNHCR's outgoing High Commissioner, Sadako Ogata, who repeatedly warned donors that underfunding was jeopardising the agency's work

The largest single portion of the appeal - more than $255 million - is destined for the Agency's work in sub-Saharan Africa, where UNHCR handles a string of protracted refugee and internal displacement crises, from Tanzania and Burundi to the Horn of Africa, Guinea, Sierra Leone, the Congos and Angola. The second biggest segment of UNHCR's budget - nearly $139 million - will go to the agency's operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia. Some $100 million will be spent in Asia, on programmes in Afghanistan, East Timor, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

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