Support for the displaced and
stateless people of the world poured in at the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees’ annual pledging conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
Donor governments responded to the
UNHCR’s funding appeal on Thursday (Dec. 15) with a $375,267,102 million
pledge.
The agency has already received
$107,217,059 million in pledges from several funding agencies and donor
governments prior to the conference, bringing total pledges
to $482,484,161 million.
The biggest pledge — $125 million —
came from the United States, followed by Sweden. The latter’s combined pledges
prior to and at the conference amounted to $88,893,070 million.
Meanwhile, other donor governments
that offered pledges prior to the conference such as Australia, Denmark,
Finland, Germany, South Korea, Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland made bigger
commitments at the conference. Norway, for one, pledged $49,471,170, a huge
leap from its initial promised contribution of $4,240,392.
But while these commitments may count
as a cause for celebration, some pledges are subject to approval from their
respective government’s internal budget procedures and to availability of
funds, as in the case of the Slovak Republic.
The agency, however, is grateful for
the support.
“This funding is vital for our work in
ensuring the protection and well-being of millions of individual refugees,
asylum-seekers, internally displaced and stateless people,” high commissioner António Guterres said. “Given the pressure
that donors face in the current uncertain economic environment, we are
particularly gratified to see this level of support.”
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