Global Needs Assessment: People Are Still Less Welcome

International migration is part of today’s often discussed globalization. International movement of capital, goods, and labor have accelerated the pace of industrialization yet, today capital and goods move freely across borders, but people are less welcome. All developed countries have received significant numbers of migrants irrespective of the continent they are situated in.

In 2009, UNHCR is launching an annual Global Needs Assessment (GNA) in its operations worldwide to comprehensively map the real state of the world's refugees and people of concern under its mandate.

The aim is to outline the total needs, the costs of meeting them and the consequences of any gaps. The GNA will be a blueprint for planning, decision-making and action with governments, partners, refugees and people of concern.

In early 2008, a pilot GNA using a rigorous methodology drawn from UNHCR's Strengthening Protection Capacity Project, was carried out in eight countries – Cameroon, Ecuador, Georgia, Rwanda, Thailand, Tanzania, Yemen and Zambia. It focused on the unmet needs of refugees, internally displaced people, returnees, asylum seekers and stateless people.

The results published in the report 'Refugee Realities' revealed a sobering reality of substantial and disturbing gaps in protection, including basic needs such as shelter, health, education, food security, sanitation and measures to prevent sexual violence. It showed that a startling 30 percent of needs were unmet in the pilot countries – a third of them in basic and essential services. UNHCR is already actively involved in these sectors, but not to the levels required.

Results showed a clear need to improve and ensure access to asylum systems with better reception facilities and procedures, registration, documentation and border monitoring. Training and technical support are also needed to increase the capacity of governments to adequately respond to people of concern. Women and children require better protection with improved prevention and response measures for sexual abuse and violence, as well as strengthened child protection programmes.

To address the needs gap in the eight pilot countries, UNHCR has included requirements totalling $63.5 million in its 2009 budget.

In a parallel effort to the GNA pilot, all UNHCR field offices provided their rough estimates of the financial requirements to meet the total needs of each population of concern. The global total reached USD3.8 billion, highlighting the stark reality that UNHCR has only a portion of the funding required for its responsibilities towards 31.7 million people of concern at the current annual funded budget of USD1.8 billion.

With a current operating budget that cannot support all needed interventions, UNHCR must make tough decisions on prioritizing, to the detriment of those it is mandated to protect.