The Daily Star - HRC halts Syrian refugee aid due to lack of funds, July 11 2012

By Dana Khraiche

BEIRUT: The government’s Higher Relief Committee announced Tuesday that it can no longer provide Syrian refugees with food or medical care because funding has dried up.

Ibrahim Bashir, the head of the state-run organization told The Daily Star that the body will appeal for donations from other countries to help end what he labeled a “temporary period” due to the recent sharp increase in refugee numbers.

“This is an exceptional and temporary period due to the crisis [in Syria], but we do not know when it will end,” Bashir said.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which works in close collaboration with the HRC to register and provide aid to Syrian refugees, said that Tuesday’s move will have a “severe impact” on the work of the international organization.

Bashir said the body’s committee is in the process of re-evaluating the mechanism used to distribute aid and will set a new budget to reinstate assistance to the thousands of refugees.

“We are conducting an evaluation of the funding in light of the number of Syrian refugees and we will issue an appeal for donations from countries that want to help the refugees,” he said.

According to the latest weekly report released by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, there are now 30,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, of whom 26,905 are registered to receive regular services from the UNHCR and other agencies.

However, local charities say that the actual number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is closer to 60,000, and Bashir agreed with this figure.

“Hospital bills are extremely high as some refugees suffer from heart problems, cancer and diabetes. We are unable to pay that much,” he added.

The HRC had already stopped providing secondary medical care as of June 30.

The UNHCR and the International Medical Corps are currently covering the costs of life-saving medical care, but the UNHCR says it is unable to cover the costs of secondary care. Some local charities are covering hospitalization costs at a number of private hospitals across the country, but this is not a comprehensive system.

“We will continue offering humanitarian assistance such as non-food items and shelter ... but we can’t provide secondary health care,” UNHCR spokeswoman Dana Sleiman said Tuesday.

The HRC has faced financial problems in the past. In March, the Finance Ministry approved $2 million in temporary funding for the organization to prevent it from suspending its operations catering to Syrian refugees.

The annual budget of the HRC, which distributes aid to refugees in various parts of the country, is $4 million, drawn primarily from donations and government funding.

The last budget approved by both the government and the Parliament was in 2005, and according to the Lebanese Constitution, the Finance Ministry is not authorized to spend beyond the ceiling set by the last approved budget.

But now the HRC needs more money. “This year, monthly hospitalization bills have increased dramatically, said Bashir. “Two months ago, we spent $400,000 [a month] but in June alone, the bill reached $1.2 million.”

Meanwhile, Refugees International, a global non-governmental organization, warned in a report issued Monday that a failure to provide adequate assistance to Syrian refugees both in Lebanon and Jordan could threaten regional stability.

Released before the HRC’s announcement Tuesday, the report, entitled “Syrian Refugees: Anxious Neighbors Stretched Thin,” also urges the Lebanese government to prioritize and strengthen the work of the HRC, to enable more assistance to refugees. The HRC’s work has thus far been mainly centered in the north of Lebanon.

Due to a “dramatic increase in refugees” since early 2012, “As host countries, Lebanon and Jordan are at a breaking point and need robust support,” the report warns, adding that the U.S. and European countries should respond to the U.N.’s $193 million revised Syria Regional Response Plan.

While the initial response to Syrian refugees in Lebanon has been positive, the report says, every host community visited by Refugees International and which is hosting displaced people has “expressed concerns that they had reached their limit and could not absorb any more.”

“Established cross-border employment and commerce that supported communities has been drastically curtailed,” the report states, and as a result, “the regional economy has slowed down, livelihoods have disappeared, and everyone is having more trouble making ends meet.”

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jul-11/180133-hrc-halts-syrian-refugee-aid-due-to-lack-of-funds.ashx#axzz20K8idTmA