Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 June 2017
682. Deputy Darragh O'Brien asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the financial contributions made by his Department to date in 2017 to assist in the ongoing refugee crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27111/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThere are currently more than 65 million people displaced from their homes worldwide, a greater number than at any time since the Second World War. More than 21 million are refugees and more than half of all refugees are children. A further 41 million people are internally displaced inside their own countries.
Ireland partners with two of the UN agencies most closely involved in addressing the urgent needs of refugees and displaced people globally: UNHCR and UNICEF. By the end of the first quarter of 2017, we had provided €7.5 million in core support to both UNHCR and UNICEF. Early disbursement of core funding to UN organisations provides them with the financial basis to plan their responses for the year ahead. Ireland has provided a total of €36.8 million in core support to UNHCR since 2012 and €46.2 million to UNICEF.
Ireland’s humanitarian funding to our UN, Red Cross and Red Crescent, and NGO partners enables them to continue to respond to the critical and growing needs of refugees in crisis situations. These include Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia and Uganda, Burundian refugees in Tanzania, and Central African refugees in Chad and DRC.
Through our contributions to EU institutions, Ireland also supports the EU’s comprehensive humanitarian response to the needs of forcibly displaced populations, which in 2015 alone amounted to more than €1 billion.
In addition, over the period 2016-2019, Ireland will contribute almost €23 million to the EU’s Facility for Refugees in Turkey, which aims to meet immediate humanitarian needs of Syrian refugees and to bring about sustainable improvements in their health, education and self-reliance. Over the 2016-2020 period, Ireland will also provide €3 million to the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, which aims to address the root causes of instability and forced displacement.
Earlier this month UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Mr. Volker Turk, visited Dublin and commended Ireland’s comprehensive response to the refugee crisis, our willingness to engage internationally on refugee issues, and our search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. Ireland will maintain this commitment and will continue to respond to the needs of refugees globally, while contributing constructively to innovative long-term solutions to the many crises driving displacement in the world today.
