Africa
Kenya - Shelter
Shelters for refugees collapsed in rains and were not immediately rebuilt because of budget constraints. Homeless refugees were forced to sleep in school buildings, causing disruptions to education programs for refugee children.
Djibouti - Food
Funding constraints forced a two-month suspension of programs for malnourished refugee children at two feeding centers. Malnutrition rates increased among some of the country's 20,000 refugees.
Congo-Kinshasa - Protection
Aid workers were unable to transfer thousands of Angolan refugees to a safer location farther from the Congo-Angola border because funding was unavailable to construct new camps and truck the refugees. As a result, the refugees remained dispersed and without adequate protection.
Tanzania - Food
Malnutrition doubled last year because funding shortfalls forced reduced food rations to 540,000 refugees in the country.
Ethiopia - Drinking Water
50,000 Sudanese refugees are exposed to diarrheal diseases because aid agencies could not afford $110,000 needed to maintain water systems. As a result, refugees receive water rations smaller than the internationally recognized minimum of 15 liters per day needed for proper health and sanitation.
Tanzania - Health
Malaria increased among Congolese and Burundian refugees because budget constraints prevented purchase of protective mosquito nets and anti-mosquito spraying.
Ethiopia - Protection
Efforts to make 100,000 Somali refugees more aware of landmine dangers before they return home were cancelled in some refugee camps.
Kenya - Protection
Some 100,000 Somali refugees received only one-third of the firewood needed for cooking. The shortfall forced refugee women to search for firewood in dangerous areas where they were susceptible to rapes and attacks.
Congo-Kinshasa - Food
Most of the quarter-million refugees in the country received no food relief or only half-rations, despite their poor nutritional status.
Uganda - Education
Schools for Sudanese refugee children layed off 126 teachers because of budget constraints. Construction of additional classrooms was suspended despite the growing student population. Enrollment of new secondary school students dropped by as much as 70 percent because of lack of classroom space.
Ethiopia - Drinking Water
Lack of $10,000 to maintain earthen dams for drinking water storage forces UNHCR to truck water to 40,000 Somali refugees on an expensive emergency basis when water shortages develop among the Somali refugee population.
Kenya - Education
Budget cuts of 20 percent forced the dismissal of 56 teachers and 61 support staff at refugee schools, prevented construction of 75 classrooms, and 8,000 primary school students lacked school desks. Student-to-teacher ratios were nearly 70 to 1.
Sudan - Drinking Water
Poor funding forced UNHCR to cancel orders for new equipment to supply clean drinking water to 20,000 Eritrea refugees. The threat of water-borne disease is higher as a result.
Ethiopia - Health
Construction of two pediatric wards, a health clinic, a feeding center kitchen, and a morgue for Sudanese refugees were canceled because UNHCR could not afford $40,000 needed for construction.
Congo-Kinshasa - Health
Lack of funding prevented road and bridge repairs to reach remote areas where more than 100,000 Angolan and Sudanese refugees have congregated. Humanitarian aid failed to reach refugee populations as a result.
Ethiopia - Sanitation
Budget shortfalls allowed construction of only half the 400 new latrines needed to maintain sanitary conditions in Somali refugee camps.
Burundi - Education
Many refugee children, mostly Congolese, were barred from attending makeshift refugee schools because available funding could not afford enough education materials for 800 students.
Ethiopia - Health
Budget cuts prevented basic health care and nutrition services to 3,000 new Eritrean refugees.
Kenya - Protection
Because of funding shortfalls, camps housing tens of thousands of refugees were unable to construct half the 25 miles of fencing needed to protect refugees from bandit attacks. Security escorts for humanitarian aid workers in dangerous areas were reduced 20 percent.
Djibouti - Health
Somali refugee women received only half of the personal sanitary supplies they needed because funds were unavailable.
Ethiopia - Drinking Water
Ten-year old water tanker trucks remained in disrepair because of lack of $66,000, slowing water delivery to tens of thousands of Somali refugees.
Tanzania - Protection
Higher numbers of local arrests of Burundian and Congolese refugees occurred as budget cuts pushed refugees to leave their camps in search of food, income, or assistance.
Ethiopia - Food
$21,000 was unavailable for the purchase of cows and oxen to help make Sudanese refugees economically self-sufficient. As a result, refugees' dependence on international food aid is prolonged.
Tanzania - Protection
Aid organizations lacked funds to conduct a census of an estimated 400,000 Burundian refugees. A new census count would strengthen protection monitoring and would help make food distributions more targeted and effective.
Kenya - Drinking Water
Lack of funds prevented aid workers from testing the quality of drinking water for 100,000 Somali refugees, thereby exposing them to illness.
Congo-Kinshasa / Congo-Brazzaville - Repatriation
Some 17,000 refugees who repatriated last year received minimal reintegration assistance because of budget shortfalls. Assistance for housing repair, small business loans, and protection monitoring was inadequate and often non-existent.
Tanzania - Sanitation
Refugees developed skin diseases because aid workers lacked funds to provide soap to refugee populations for four months.
Rwanda - Repatriation
Funding constraints forced UNHCR to cut its repatriation and reintegration budget by more than 80 percent for 25,000 newly repatriated Rwandan refugees who were in need of protection monitoring and substantial assistance to restart their lives.
Ethiopia - Health
Up to 40,000 Sudanese refugees slept on bare ground or bare floors because UNHCR lacked money to buy simple sleeping mats that would protect refugees from illnesses and insects.
Somalia - Repatriation
Water and irrigation projects in areas of significant refugee returns were drastically curtailed because of inadequate funding. The projects are needed to help returnee areas become economically viable and to encourage additional repatriations.
Kenya - Sanitation
Funding problems prevented construction of additional latrines for 55,000 Sudanese and Somali refugees. The existing ratio of one latrine per 20 refugees was below normal standards in refugee camps, exposing the population to sanitation and health hazards.
Ethiopia - Health
Half of the 3,000 refugees living in the capital did not receive medical assistance because of budget cuts.
Djibouti - Education
Literacy education and vocational training for adult refugees stopped because funds were unavailable. Construction of new classrooms for refugee students halted.
Tanzania - Education
Two new refugee schools for expanded numbers of refugee children were not constructed because of funding shortfalls. Needed expansions of existing schools were also not fully affordable.
Uganda - Health
UNHCR was unable to purchase two-thirds of the new vehicles needed to deliver health, education, and sanitation services to 220,000 refugees.
Kenya - Protection
Lawlessness and internal conflicts among 47,000 refugee youths increased because of budget-driven cutbacks in youth activities such as sports, music, and arts and crafts.
Ethiopia - Sanitation
Many of the 170,000 refugees had to sell food or possessions to wash their clothes because UNHCR lacked $55,000 to purchase laundry soap.
Tanzania - Logistics
Lack of funding cancelled scheduled repairs of roads used to deliver relief supplies to refugee camps in the country's remote western region. As a result, poor roads slowed relief deliveries and increased vehicle repair costs.
Worldwide: Other Regions
East Timor - Shelter
UNHCR was able to support reconstruction of only 35,000 shelters for some 200,000 recent and potential returnees who needed to rebuild their homes destroyed by violence in 1999.
Bosnia and Herzegovina - Repatriation
Budget constraints triggered a housing crisis that impeded minority repatriations. Fewer than 5,000 of the 23,000 new houses needed last year were built. Tensions over the housing shortage were potentially explosive and could endanger the fragile peace.
Mexico - Protection
Budget shortfalls slowed efforts to permanently integrate Guatemalan refugees and impeded efforts to help 5,000 refugees become naturalized citizens. As a result, the refugees still awaited a durable solution to their situation and remained in need of protection monitoring.
Mexico - Health
UNHCR cut health and education assistance to urban refugees because of budget constraints.
Georgia - Shelter
Some 40,000 repatriated refugees received no shelter assistance or medical aid, even during harsh winter months, because no funding existed.
Pakistan - Health
Some 35,000 new refugees from Afghanistan languished for months at a site without latrines, water systems, and other facilities because lack of funds slowed construction of a new refugee camp to accommodate them.
India - Food
Some 1,000 urban refugees dependent on monthly aid stipends for food purchases and other essential needs received no living allowance for months because of funding constraints.
Kazakhstan - Health
Some 10,000 refugees from Chechnya and Tajikistan, including thousands of new arrivals, received no humanitarian aid last year because of funding problems.
Iraq - Education
Special projects to help Palestinian, Iranian, and Turkish refugee women and children were curtailed or cancelled because funding was inadequate.
Iran - Repatriation
A 50 percent cut in repatriation grants impeded repatriation of thousands of Afghan refugees.
West Bank/Gaza - Economic Support
Funding to assist 1.4 million Palestinian refugees continued to decline from $110 per refugee in 1992 to $60 per refugee in 2000-a drop of 45 percent.
Lebanon - Health
Many seriously ill or injured Palestinian refugees failed to receive proper medical care because assistance budgets could no longer pay their medical bills.
U.S. COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES
phone 202-347-3507
www.refugees.org