Fact Sheet

BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND LABOR

April 19, 2013

Created to promote relief work in times of peace, the Empress Shôken Fund received many applications this year from Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies and is pleased to announce its support for five Red Cross Red Crescent projects around the world which address local vulnerabilities, namely in Belarus, Bolivia, Eritrea, Iran, and Kiribati. The total amount of the grant allocations is 98,779 Swiss Francs.

LInk: Belarus: Floods Preparedness DREF operation n° MDRBY003

Syria - As 80 Filipinas and one Vietnamese flew out of Lebanon's Rafic Hariri airport on Wednesday (30/1/2013) IOM has expressed concern about the situation of thousands of other foreign migrant workers believed to still be inside Syria.

"Many have no means to leave the areas where they are working and risk becoming trapped. Others have no documents and therefore don't have the same level of legal protection accorded to citizens," says IOM Regional Coordinator for Syria, Othman Belbesi.

GLIDE n° CW-2013-000010-BLR

CHF 25,631 has been allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Belarus Red Cross Society in delivering immediate assistance to some 5,000 beneficiaries. Unearmarked funds to repay DREF are encouraged.

Summary: Freezing weather has already killed four people in Belarus over the past few days, and temperatures are set to drop even further according to weather forecasts.

This report covers the period 01/01/2012 to 30/06/2012

Overview

CHF 95,871 was allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Belarus Red Cross Society in delivering assistance to more than 4,000 homeless and other vulnerable people throughout Belarus.

Summary: Due to the sudden onset of extremely cold weather, many Belarusians' livelihoods already hit hard by the financial crisis came under extreme pressure. The severe winter increased the vulnerability of the homeless in particular.

This report covers the period 01/01/2011 to 31/12/2011.

In brief Examples of the CBF impact (more in annex):

Red Cross society of China, Hennan Province

After only two years of implementation of Intensified Capacity Building (ICB) in Hennan Province, the branch has recorded impressive achievements:

• The new structure benefitted 7,000 people through sustainable services

• Grassroots Red Cross organisations have increased from 90 to 3,100

• The number of volunteers increased from 10,000 to 30,000, and staff from 100 to 8,000

This report covers the period from 01/01/2011 to 31/12/2011.

Programme summary