UNITED NATIONS RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS SEEK $555 MILLION FOR 1997 PROGRAMMES IN AREAS OF FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
Press Release
IHA/611
UNITED NATIONS RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS SEEK $555 MILLION FOR 1997 PROGRAMMES IN AREAS OF FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
19961129 Twelve Agencies Involved in Provision of Aid; Aim Is to Phase Out Assistance, Handing Responsibility to Local Communities and InstitutionsGENEVA/NEW YORK, 29 November (Department of Humanitarian Affairs) -- The United Nations is calling for $555 million in 1997 for its humanitarian programmes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Although a year has passed since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, many obstacles still remain in finding lasting solutions for the more than 2 million refugees and displaced persons affected by the conflict. The 1997 United Nations Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal, launched today, aims to promote the repatriation, return and local integration of refugees and displaced persons and to ensure that the basic humanitarian needs of the population are met.
It covers the proposed activities of 12 agencies -- the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Volunteers (UNV), the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Department of Humanitarian Affairs.
The United Nations humanitarian programme for 1997 is designed to meet the objectives of the two-year stabilization period established following the September elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The United Nations organizations will gradually phase down their relief assistance programmes during this period, helping individuals and communities to become self- sufficient and local institutions to take over full responsibility for the most vulnerable members of their populations.
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The appeal gives details of humanitarian efforts which need to be made throughout the region in 1997, and concentrates on four main objectives. These are to accelerate the search for solutions, on a regional basis, for the repatriation, return and local integration of refugees and displaced persons; to gradually phase down general humanitarian relief assistance through improved targeting of vulnerable groups; to increase support for capacity- building of governmental and non-governmental institutions, in order to decrease dependency on external aid; and to step up humanitarian demining activities, crucial for return and assistance programmes.
Most humanitarian operations in the region are currently facing funding shortfalls. Continued donor support is essential as part of a larger effort to promote lasting peace and security.
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