UNHCR launches private-sector funding drive

By Fatih Erel

GENEVA (AA) – The U.N. refugee agency on Wednesday launched a campaign called ‘Nobody Left Outside’, calling on the private sector to contribute funds to shelter two million refugees wordlwide.

"A huge shortfall in funds for sheltering refugees is severely undermining efforts to tackle the biggest global displacement crisis since World War II," the UNHCR said in a statement.

The efforts to provide adequate shelter for refugees were facing a half-billion-dollar deficit, the UNHCR warned.

"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 UNHCR noted.

The UN body says its operations are expected to cost $724 million in 2016 while only $158 million is currently available.