This report covers the period from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011.
In brief
The programmes of the Red Cross of Montenegro are aligned with the global aims of the International Federation`s Strategy 2020 to save lives, protect livelihoods, and strengthen recovery from disasters and crises; enable healthy and safe living; and promote social inclusion and culture of non-violence and peace. The capacity-building efforts are in line with the enabling action one to build strong National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Brussels, 24 April 2012 –Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia have renewed their commitment, in Sarajevo today, to finding durable solutions for refugees and displaced persons of the 1991-1995 conflict in the region. On this occasion, the international donor community has pledged 261 million in support of the Regional Housing Programme at the International Donors Conference on Durable Solutions for Refugees and Displaced Persons.
SARAJEVO, April 24, 2012 (AFP) - A global donor conference Tuesday pledged 300 million euros to build homes for some 74,000 war refugees in four former Yugoslav republics, enabling construction to start in autumn.
"During the donor conference we obtained confirmation for more than 300 million euros ($396 million) and we are satisfied with that," Bosnian Refugee Minister Damir Ljubic, told journalists.
This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today’s Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva. Further information can be found on the UNHCR websites, www.unhcr.org and www.unhcr.fr, which should also be checked for regular media updates on non-briefing days.
SARAJEVO, April 20, 2012 (AFP) - A donor conference next week will seek some 500 million euros to build homes for 74,000 refugees from the 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia, Bosnian Refugee Minister Damir Ljubic said Friday.
The international conference in Sarajevo on Tuesday "should give a new enthusiasm to resolve the problem of refugees and displaced people" remaining from the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, Ljubic told reporters.
Strasbourg, 09.03.2012 – After his talks in Podgorica, including visits to refugees and displaced persons in the Konik camp, Jean-Charles Gardetto (Monaco, EPP/CD), PACE Rapporteur on the monitoring of Montenegro, stated that he was expecting a major political gesture from the Montenegrin authorities:
Aportará 35.000 euros al fondo global de 187.000 euros
Cáritas. 5 de marzo de 2012.- Cáritas Española ha decidido aportar 35.000 euros al fondo global de 187.155 euros solicitados por las Cáritas de los Balcanes para hacer frente a las graves consecuencias de la severa ola de frío polar que afectó semanas atrás a toda la región de los Balcanes y que ha dejado aisladas a cientos de miles de personas, sin acceso a alimentos ni servicios básicos. Miles de familias se enfrentan grandes dificultades para asegurar unas condiciones de vida adecuadas en sus hogares.
BUDAPEST, February 10, 2012 (AFP) - Hungary closed the Danube to river traffic Friday due to thick ice, bringing shipping to a near standstill on Europe's busiest waterway, as the continent's cold snap death toll passed 540.
"Shipping was ordered stopped overnight Thursday to Friday because of conditions created by icing along the Hungarian part of the river," Istvan Lang, who heads the national technical supervisory body OMIT said.
"All ships still underway must immediately head for the closest harbour," Lang, quoted by MTI news agency, said.
February 7th 2012, Budapest - The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has increased its emergency support and operations across Europe as temperatures remain in double digits below freezing across much of the continent.
A total of 576,000 Swiss francs (477,300 Euro, 625,000 USD) is being disbursed from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund to help national Red Cross Red Crescent societies bring direct relief to some 50,000 of Europe’s most at-risk. More allocations are expected in the coming hours and days.
The plight of thousands of people continues in Europe where forecasters say that icy conditions are unlikely to improve before the end of this week. In the last 11 days, several Red Cross societies have been in a race against time to reduce the impact of the extreme cold. Estimates so far suggest 389 have died, and official sources say the winter has been the most brutal in decades.
After unusually mild weather in December 2011 and early January 2012 almost all over Europe, the weather situation changed abruptly in the middle of January. An incursion of cold polar air, coming from northern Russia at the south flank of an extensive high pressure area brought extremely low temperatures over large parts of Europe and also some considerable snowfall especially over various parts of the continent.
Summary: Heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures that started on January 31st caused emergency situations in the central and northern part of Montenegro. The most affected municipalities are: Kolasin, Mojkovac, Berane, Andrijevica, Plav, Rozaje, Bijelo Polje, Pljevlja, Zabljak, Savnik, Pluzine, Niksic, Cetinje and Bar. Approximately 1,500 families live in the villages of these municipalities, which are completely cut off from the towns and from the rest of the country.
The IFRC Europe Zone is one of the five decentralised geographic areas, with several regional and country offices, covering the European continent in the broadest political meaning, i.e. 52 countries including the successor states of the former Soviet Union in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Brussels, 17 November 2011 - Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, and W. Craig Fugate, Administrator of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, met today in Brussels to discuss the priorities for cooperation between the European Commission and FEMA in disaster management and emergency response.
Mass protests and political upheavals across the Middle East and North Africa, unexpected crises in Kyrgyzstan and Madagascar, ongoing conflicts, long-standing political stalemates, and countries recovering from conflict drove continued reliance on political missions over the past year.
This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at today’s Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva. Further information can be found on the UNHCR websites, www.unhcr.org and www.unhcr.fr, which should also be checked for regular media updates on non-briefing days.
