Over 11 mn refugees risk losing aid because of funding cuts: UN

GENEVA, Jul 18: Massive cuts to humanitarian budgets risk leaving more than 11 million refugees without desperately needed aid, the United Nations warned Friday.

That corresponds to a full third of the number reached last year by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

In a new report, the agency highlighted a deadly confluence of factors pummelling millions of refugees and displaced people globally: "rising displacement, shrinking funding and political apathy".

"We are right now facing a deadly cocktail," UNHCR's head of external relations, Dominique Hyde, told reporters in Geneva.
"We are incredibly concerned for refugees and displaced populations around the world."

Dramatic aid cuts by the United States and other countries have left UNHCR and other aid organisations facing gaping shortfalls.    �"AFP