The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, appealed Friday for more than 950 million dollars to support its work next year, warning that its work would be jeopardized if it had to implement further spending cuts.
The Geneva-based UN agency said in a press release it needed 953.7 million dollars to enable it to help and protect the more than 22 million people who have been forced from their homes or hit by violence or war.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata, who leaves the post at the end of the month after nearly 10 years, warned in the preface to the funding appeal that the agency could not make any more budget cuts.
"We have been forced repeatedly to prioritize and reduce the budget," Ogata said.
"The cutbacks have curtailed activities with a direct bearing on UNHCR's policy priorities," she added.
The largest single portion of the 2001 appeal, more than 255 million dollars, is earmarked for UNHCR's work in sub-Saharan Africa, while the second largest part, nearly 139 million dollars, is destined for Balkans operations.
UNHCR, which marked its fiftieth anniversary on Thursday, said it relies heavily on voluntary donations, with just two percent of its annual budget coming from regular contributions from the UN system.
"Most of the donations have traditionally come from the governments of 14 industrialized nations, led by the United States," UNHCR said.
It added that contributions from non-government sources had risen threefold in recent years, from about 10 million dollars in 1997 to 35 million in 1999, but non-government funding still accounts for a small percentage of the overall funding -- GENEVA (AFP)
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