Staff Reporter
Islamabad
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), released supplementary appeal for 2021 COVID-19 response seeking an additional amount of US $ 455 million.
While most of the pandemic-related activities amounting to US $ 477 million have already been mainstreamed and included in UNHCR’s 2021 Global Appeal totaling US $ 8.616 billion, the supplementary COVID-19 response released focuses on exceptional socioeconomic and protection impacts related to COVID-19 as millions of refugees, internally displaced and stateless people fall into conditions of extreme hardship.
Monitoring carried out by UNHCR since the onset of the pandemic paint a bleak picture of the well-being and protection of refugees and others of concern, with 74 per cent of them now able to meet only half or less of their basic needs, and 83 per cent engaging in one or more negative coping mechanisms to meet their basic needs, said a statement.
Response to these needs is ranked in six priorities within the supplementary appeal and include efforts to reduce vulnerability through cash assistance; use of cash to help meet basic needs and facilitate access to services; protection of incomes and livelihoods through consumption support to the most vulnerable and their entrepreneurial efforts; prevention and response to gender-based violence (GBV), in particular strengthening the availability, accessibility and quality of GBV case management; promotion of mental health and psychological well-being through training the first line responders. Prioritized activities also include communication.
