PRINCESS HAYA OF JORDAN CALLS ON DONORS TO SUPPORT UN RELIEF EFFORTS IN PAKISTAN

Characterizing the ongoing crisis in north-west Pakistan as the largest humanitarian emergency in the world today, United Nations Messenger of Peace Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein of Jordan has called for a massive international response to aid the hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people forced to live in makeshift shelters.

In a televised message across the Middle East and elsewhere, Princess Haya urged the public to step up donations to UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) operations, which provide support for over 2 million Pakistanis who have escaped the conflict between Government forces and militants in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

"Millions have been forced to leave, abandoning their homes, their communities and their loved ones," said Princess Haya. "They arrive needing everything: shelter, food, and medical care."

UNHCR said it is seeking to ease congestion by expanding camps, where the agency says around 10 per cent of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) have fled, and ramp up assistance to people taken in by families in local communities.

High Commissioner António Guterres has said that hundreds of millions of dollars will be needed for the overall relief effort as a shortage of resources is already reducing the amount of shelter and other aid items reaching IDPs, the agency said in a press release.

"Only with your help, can UNHCR revive hope, assist with shelter and meet other basic needs. Please help UNHCR," said Princess Haya.

The UN and its partners launched an appeal for $543 million on 22 May, of which just over one-quarter has been funded, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said two weeks ago.
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SOME 42 MILLION PEOPLE UPROOTED WORLDWIDE IN 2008 – UN REPORT

The United Nations refugee agency said today that the number of people forced to flee their homes because of deadly violence and persecution stood at 42 million worldwide at the end 2008.

Although this represented a decrease of 700,000 over the previous year, new displacement in 2009 has already more than offset the decline, according to a news release issued by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

"In 2009, we have already seen substantial new displacements, namely in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Somalia," said High Commissioner António Guterres.

Some 80 per cent of the 16 million refugees who have escaped to other countries and the vast majority of the 26 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) are in developing countries, noted the UNHCR "Global Trends" annual report.

"While some displacements may be short-lived, others can take years and even decades to resolve," said Mr. Guterres. "We continue to face several longer-term internal displacement situations in places like Colombia, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of the Congo [DRC] and Somalia."

The report highlighted some 5.7 million refugees "living in limbo," with no immediate solutions in sight, including 29 separate groups of 25,000 or more refugees in 22 States exiled for five or more years.

In 2008, some 2 million refugees and IDPs were repatriated, which was the second lowest level of returnees for 15 years and a reflection of deteriorating security in Afghanistan and the Sudan, the report said.

"Today, we are seeing a relentless series of internal conflicts that are generating millions of uprooted people," said Mr. Guterres, adding that UNHCR "is committed to working within the UN team and the broader humanitarian community to provide the internally displaced with the help they need, just as we do for refugees."

The agency provides support for 25 million of the total number of uprooted people, including a record 14.4 million IDPs – up from 13.7 million in 2007 – and 10.5 million refugees. The other 4.7 million refugees are aided by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Meanwhile, Hollywood star and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has released a new video ahead of World Refugee Day (20 June), calling on the public to "remember them on this day."

The 30-second public service announcement, co-produced by Ms. Jolie and UNHCR, includes images of refugees and other victims of conflict around the world.

The first night the video was uploaded to You Tube, it received more than 25,000 views.

Ms. Jolie is slated to travel to Washington D.C. this week with Mr. Guterres to mark World Refugee Day.
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Pakistan: Taliban, Army Must Minimize Harm to Civilians

Humanitarian Situation in the Conflict Area Deteriorating

May 18, 2009

(New York) - The Taliban's use of landmines and human shields and the Pakistani army's aerial and artillery attacks are placing civilians at unnecessary risk in the continued fighting in Pakistan's Swat valley, Human Rights Watch said today.

Residents in the town of Mingora, the epicenter of the fighting, told Human Rights Watch that Taliban militants have laid landmines in the town and prevented many civilians from fleeing, using them as "human shields" to deter attack. Pakistani forces appeared to have taken insufficient precautionary measures in aerial and artillery attacks that have caused a high loss of civilian life. Human Rights Watch expressed concern that food and medical supplies were not reaching the population in the embattled area.

"The Taliban's use of landmines and human shields is a sorry addition to their long list of abuses in the Swat Valley," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "They urgently need to let civilians leave areas of fighting."

Mian Iftikhar Hussain, information minister in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) provincial government, told the media on May 17, 2009, that almost 2 million internally displaced persons had been registered by authorities. The government feared the number would rise by another 500,000 in the coming days as fighting continued. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, described the situation as, "a massive, massive displacement in the world today." Hundreds of thousands of civilians remain trapped in the Swat valley and adjoining troubled areas, and are unable to leave because of fighting.

Mingora residents told Human Rights Watch that fewer than 10,000 civilians remain in Mingora. Taliban forces have prevented many from leaving, while others are too infirm or poor, or are unwilling to leave. Several thousand Taliban remain in the town. The Taliban also continued to use battery-operated FM radios and patrols to communicate with residents and impose their authority.

Swat residents still in the valley and people fleeing into the towns of Swabi and Mardan told Human Rights Watch that the Taliban had laid landmines in eight places in Sohrab Khan Chowk, a square in the center of Mingora. Sharifabad, a village near the Haji Baba area about three kilometers from Mingora, has been mined in four places. Residents have seen the landmines being planted, and the Taliban told civilians that they would be blown up if they walked on them. The use of antipersonnel landmines - which are inherently indiscriminate in their targets - and holding civilians as human shields are serious violations of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch said that the Pakistani army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, had given appropriate instructions to the army on May 13 to, "ensure minimum collateral damage even at the expense of taking risks, by resorting to precision strikes." However, Human Rights Watch has received several accounts of high civilian casualties in Pakistani military attacks. On May 8, 35 people, including 14 children and four women, were killed when Pakistani army mortar shells and missiles struck the Shahdra and Wathke neighborhoods of Mingora. Reportedly, none of those killed were Taliban fighters.

On May 11, the military's aerial bombardment of Matta, a Taliban-controlled district in central Swat, resulted in the deaths of at least three women and eight children, witnesses told Human Rights Watch. Residents in the area said that on May 14, Pakistani armed forces attacked Taliban-controlled Takhtaband near the Mingora bypass road. Though residents said that civilians died in the attack, they had not been able to recover the bodies or ascertain the number of dead due to an ongoing curfew and the precarious security situation. The laws of war require warring parties to take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian harm and prohibit attacks that do not distinguish between military targets and civilians.

"If Pakistan wants to win not just the battle for Swat but also a sustainable peace, its armed forces need to minimize civilian casualties and suffering," said Adams. "The people of Swat will expect the Pakistani government and armed forces to protect their safety both during the fighting and afterward."

Human Rights Watch said that because the area where the fighting continues is a closed military zone with journalists and human rights monitors barred from entering, it is currently not possible to verify this information independently. Local journalists have left the area, and the army is not permitting Pakistani reporters or foreign correspondents to enter. The area is under indefinite curfew, lifted only to allow civilians to flee.

Human Rights Watch expressed grave concern about the humanitarian situation in Mingora. The town remained without electricity and fuel, food supplies were dangerously scarce and all hospitals and medical facilities remained shut. Pakistani authorities should consider all possible mechanisms, including airdrops, to ensure that food, fuel, and medical supplies reach those unable or unwilling to leave the conflict area.

DISPLACEMENT IN PAKISTAN LARGEST AND FASTEST IN YEARS, SAYS UN REFUGEE AGENCY

DISPLACEMENT IN PAKISTAN LARGEST AND FASTEST IN YEARS, SAYS UN REFUGEE AGENCY
New York, May 19 2009 2:02PM
Almost 1.5 million people have escaped fighting between Government troops and Taliban militants in north-west Pakistan, the United Nations refugee agency said today, calling the displacement the largest and fastest to occur anywhere in the world in recent years.

According to the Social Welfare Department of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), 1.45 million people have been registered in 89 centres since 2 May.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (<"http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/4a12d4482.html">UNHCR) António Guterres, who wrapped up a three-day visit to the area this weekend, has called on the international community for a massive influx of support to assist the surging numbers of uprooted people.

"It's like trying to catch something that's moving ahead of us because the number of people on the move every day is so big and the response is never enough," he said. "Leaving this population without the support they need – with such massive numbers – could constitute an enormous destabilizing factor."

Fewer than 10 per cent of the displaced are seeking shelter in camps, and the 1.5 million who have become internally displaced persons (IDPs) recently join over 500,000 others who fled clashes last year, bringing the total number of displaced to just over 2 million.

UNHCR has set up a relief bank and distribution centre in the NWFP town of Nowshera to both receive and hand out supplies such as pillows and soap. Similar centres are slated to open in the cities of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

The agency, in partnership with the World Food Programme (<"http://www.wfp.org/stories/pakistan-wfp-produces-innovative-solutions-amid-idp-crisis">WFP) and the Pakistani Government, has set up humanitarian 'hubs' where IDPs can register, receive supplies and be directed into available shelter within local communities.

For its part, WFP is dispatching record amounts of wheat flour, rice, sugar and pulses, and plans to send enough supplies to feed 1.5 million people.
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UN REFUGEE CHIEF APPEALS FOR MORE AID TO HELP UPROOTED PAKISTANIS

UN REFUGEE CHIEF APPEALS FOR MORE AID TO HELP UPROOTED PAKISTANIS
New York, May 14 2009 5:00PM
The top United Nations refugee official today issued a call for a massive surge in international assistance to help the over 800,000 Pakistanis recently displaced by clashes between Government forces and militants in the country's north-west.

"This is not a moment for small gestures," High Commissioner António Guterres said during a visit to the Yar Hussein camp in the Swabi district of North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

He kicked off a three-day mission to Pakistan today to assess the emergency response of the UN refugee agency (<"http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/4a0c3f742.html">UNHCR), which has been rushing aid to the region, to stem the ongoing displacement crisis.

Deploring the pace at which the displacement is occurring, Mr. Guterres emphasized that the time has come for the international community to repay Pakistan for its generosity in hosting millions of Afghan refugees over the years.

Since 2 May, over 835,000 people have been registered as displaced, with fewer than one-tenth of them sheltering in camps. This is on top of the more than 500,000 people registered as fleeing their homes after earlier fighting in the north-west since last August.

Most of the uprooted are staying with relatives or friends, resulting in social and economic hardships, the High Commissioner said. "The dimensions of the problem are far out of proportion to the available resources."

While at the Yar Hussain camp, he spoke with refugee families, saw the registration of new arrivals and met with Pakistani aid workers.

He also visited a World Food Programme (<"http://www.wfp.org/stories/pakistan-wfp-reaches-650000-idp-population-grows">WFP) distribution centre, where he watched relief workers hand out food and UNHCR non-food items.

Earlier today, Mr. Guterres met with Najmuddin Khan, Minister for States and Frontier Regions, and Frida Wazir of the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees.

On Tuesday, UNHCR airlifted 120 tonnes of relief supplies – including 10,000 mosquito nets and 14,000 plastic sheets for emergency shelters – from its regional stockpile in Dubai.

Additionally, the agency has been working with Pakistani authorities and organizations to register and help the displaced.

For its part, the World Health Organization (<"http://www.who.int/en/">WHO) is working to support health services in camps as well as mobile outreach to cover those sheltering in host communities. Since 9 May, it has delivered 20 mini-emergency health kits – enough for 120,000 people for one month – to internally displaced persons (IDPs) at various sites in NWFP.

The agency has received over $500,000 from the UN Central Emergency Relief Fund (<"http://ochaonline.un.org/Default.aspx?alias=ochaonline.un.org/cerf">CERF) to meet the health needs of the half million people uprooted by violence and natural disasters in the Province between August 2008 and March 2009 before the current counter-insurgency operation started two weeks ago.

The CERF money will support projects targeting the prevention and control of communicable diseases, the strengthening of health systems, and the provision of clean water and hygienic conditions.
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UN AGENCIES ASSIST SOME 650,000 IN GROWING PAKISTANI HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

UN AGENCIES ASSIST SOME 650,000 IN GROWING PAKISTANI HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
New York, May 12 2009 12:00PM
Responding to the deepening humanitarian crisis in north-west Pakistan, United Nations agencies are ramping up emergency aid to hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the Government offensive against militants along the troubled border region with Afghanistan.

Together with Government authorities, UN agencies in Pakistan are working to provide the affected families with basic necessities, such as food and nutrition assistance, shelter, water, sanitation facilities, primary health care and education.

The World Food Programme (<"http://www.wfp.org/">WFP) has been providing emergency food rations to around 650,000 people who have fled the conflict areas in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), including some 200,000 newly arrived internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Lower Dir, Swat and Buner districts.

"WFP has mobilized in-country stocks and is prepared to feed the growing population of internally displaced persons for the next two to three months. Assisting hungry families is our first priority," said the agency's Pakistan Country Representative Wolfgang Herbinger.

The agency announced plans to double the amount of emergency food aid assistance reaching registered IDPs in camps as well as in host communities, who account for more than 80 per cent of all those displaced. In addition, WFP is setting up food distribution hubs in Mardan and Swabi districts, the main destination for the latest wave of IDPs.

"We need the international donor community to quickly step forward with donations to avoid any interruptions in food distributions," stressed Mr. Herbinger.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) <"http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/media?page=home&id=4a09473b2">announced that a Boeing 747 carrying 120 tons of relief supplies left Dubai this morning en route for Islamabad.

The shipment includes some 10,000 mosquito nets, 14,000 plastic sheets for emergency shelters, 1,500 plastic rolls to build walls and privacy screens in camps, and two portable warehouses from UNHCR central stockpiles, which are headed for the agency's depot in Peshawar to be distributed among various IDP camps in NWFP.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has facilitated the emergency flight, as well as provided some 10,000 tents to UNHCR in support of its relief efforts.

<"http://www.unhcr.org/news.html">UNHCR reported that as of late Monday a total of 501,496 displaced people from the new influx have been formally registered since 2 May. More than 80 per cent of these IDPs are sheltering with relative, friends and host communities while 72,707 are taking refuge in makeshift camps.

High Commissioner António Guterres said the speed and scale of the crisis is posing huge challenges for the Government and the humanitarian community, while highlighting the urgent need for more resources.

The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which holds some $450 million in reserve to allow the world body quick access to life-saving funds in sudden crisis, has allocated more than $8 million to fund humanitarian projects for people affected by the military operations in north-western Pakistan.

WFP will receive $2.8 million of the allocation to provide full food rations to those displaced for one month. Another $2.15 million will bolster UNHCR efforts to provide household items such as blankets and cooking utensils to people living in camps.

Some $1.9 million will go towards the provision of emergency health care, safe water and hygiene to the families who have been displaced, and the remainder will go to psycho-social programmes for children and a project to strengthen measures ensuring the safety and security of aid workers in the area.

A humanitarian appeal for Pakistan that was launched in September 2008 has so far received 47 per cent of the $166 million required, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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PAKISTAN: UN CALLS FOR GLOBAL SUPPORT AS NUMBER OF DISPLACED TOPS 360,000

PAKISTAN: UN CALLS FOR GLOBAL SUPPORT AS NUMBER OF DISPLACED TOPS 360,000
New York, May 11 2009 2:00PM
The United Nations refugee chief today appealed for international solidarity to support the hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis fleeing the violent conflict in the north-west as the Government tries to defeat a militant insurgency.

With the help of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (<"http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home">UNHCR), local authorities have registered more than 360,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) pouring out of Buner, Dir, and Swat since 2 May with more still to come.

High Commissioner António Guterres <"http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/4a0847362.html">noted that the speed and scale of the latest displacement required an immediate international humanitarian response in support of the growing number of Pakistanis affected by the conflict.

"These are the same people who for decades showed great generosity to millions of Afghan refugees," Mr. Guterres said in a news release. "Now it is time for the international community to show them the same generosity by supporting humanitarian programmes for the Pakistani displaced."
UNHCR has opened up its stockpiles in Pakistan to provide thousands of locally bought basic relief items such as tents, kitchen sets, jerry cans, sleeping mats and blankets delivered through non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the authorities.
Mr. Guterres announced a UNHCR airlift on Tuesday to rush 120 tons of additional humanitarian supplies to the north-west of the country from its central emergency stockpiles in Dubai.

The chartered Boeing 747 cargo plane will deliver 14,000 plastic sheets, 1,500 large roles of plastic, 10,000 mosquito nets and two large, portable warehouses, bringing the cost of the airlift to $584,000.

"I call on the international community to support the overall humanitarian effort on behalf of displaced Pakistanis," said Mr. Guterres. "This is a huge and rapidly unfolding emergency, which is going to require considerable resources beyond those that currently exist in the region."
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RELIEF, JOY AT UN REFUGEE AGENCY OVER RELEASE OF COLLEAGUE ABDUCTED IN PAKISTAN

The United Nations refugee chief and his staff around the world have welcomed the safe release of colleague John Solecki, who was freed over the weekend in Pakistan after two months in captivity.

"It is a very happy day," António Guterres told hundreds of staff gathered in the Geneva headquarters of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) yesterday. "We were all ecstatic the day before yesterday when the news came and when finally – I must say, it was one of the best days of my life – I could speak to him late Saturday."

Mr. Solecki, the agency's head of office in Balochistan's provincial capital Quetta, was abducted in an attack on 2 February that also left another colleague, Syed Hashim, dead.

Following a message from his abductors, the Baloch Liberation United Front, the 49-year-old Solecki was located on Saturday night in Khadkhutcha, some 50 kilometres south of Quetta. He was flown out of Pakistan on Sunday and is now undergoing medical examination before flying to the United States to see his family.

Mr. Guterres said his Saturday night phone call with Mr. Solecki convinced him that he had endured his ordeal "with lots of courage and determination and that we can all be very proud of him. And I think the same can be said about his family.

"I hope John will be able to join us soon, and it will be a great moment for all of us," he added.

At the same time, Mr. Guterres highlighted the increasing dangers faced by aid workers and called for respect for the humanitarian principles of impartiality, neutrality and independence.

"It is important that in this moment of celebration we do not forget other colleagues in these dramatic circumstances," he said.

Just a couple of days ago, two international staff from the French non-governmental organization (NGO) Aide Medicale Internationale were kidnapped in Sudan's Darfur region.

"We need to make sure that these kinds of events do not go on multiplying in a way that is representing a major threat to the humanitarian community, narrowing our humanitarian space and a major concern for all of us," said Mr. Guterres.
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UN REFUGEE AGENCY DEPLORES DEATHS OF HUNDREDS BOUND FOR EUROPE OFF LIBYAN COAST

The United Nations refugee agency today expressed its shock at reports that hundreds of people are missing off the Libyan coast as they sought new lives in Europe, as the smuggling season gets under way in the Mediterranean.

Although details are sketchy, it has been reported that a number of vessels transporting several hundred people set sail for Italy in recent days, with one or more boats having gone down, Ron Redmond, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said.

Egyptian authorities said that the incident occurred some 30 kilometres of the Libyan coast, with some Egyptian nationals having been rescued and bodies recovered. They also noted that those on board included people from North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

High Commissioner António Guterres voiced his great sorrow at the "tragic loss of life," calling the incident a "tragic example of a global phenomenon in which desperate people take desperate measures to escape conflict, persecution and poverty in search of a better life."

According to UNHCR in Rome, two boats have arrived in Italy this week: one carrying 244 people in Sicily and one with 219 in the southern island of Lampedusa.

Last year, 36,000 people arrived by sea to the country from North Africa, with 75 per cent of them applying for asylum and roughly half receiving refugee status or protection on other humanitarian grounds.

Mr. Guterres stressed the fruits of globalization have not reach all equally, with money and goods moving ever more freely but with obstacles to the movement of people increasing. As a result, the distinction between economic migrants and bona fide refugees or asylum seekers becomes even more blurred, he said.

This latest incident also underlines the need for stepped up global cooperation for sea rescues, the High Commissioner said.
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AHEAD OF INTERNATIONAL DAY, UN AGENCY URGES RELEASE OF DETAINED STAFFER IN PAKISTAN

On the eve of the International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members, the UN refugee agency is again appealing for the immediate release of John Solecki, who was abducted in Pakistan nearly eight weeks.

"The last we heard, John's health was deteriorating and we are increasingly worried about his medical condition," Ron Redmond, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva today, the 50th day of captivity for the agency's head of office in Quetta.

Mr. Solecki was abducted in an attack on 2 February that also left another colleague, Syed Hashim, dead.

A group known as the Balochistan Liberation United Front claims to be holding him and has demanded the release the people it says are in Pakistani custody. Since 2004, rebels in the province have called for political autonomy and a larger share of natural resource profits.

Mr. Solecki is one of 19 UN staff members currently under arrest, detained or missing.

The annual International Day is aimed at raising awareness globally of the risks faced by UN staff and its non-governmental organization (NGO) partners and journalists in carrying out their work.

"High Commissioner António Guterres and more than 6,000 UNHCR staff in some 120 countries around the world don't really need a special day to remember John because he and his family have been in our thoughts each and every day since 2 February," Mr. Redmond said.

"But the High Commissioner wants to take this occasion to remind everyone that attacks on humanitarian workers are occurring all too often and in far too many places around the world," he added. "People like John Solecki have one goal – to help those in need. Attacking them hurts all of us, but especially the most vulnerable."
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