Support for the displaced and stateless people of the world poured in at the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees’ annual pledging conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
Donor governments responded to the UNHCR’s funding appeal on Thursday (Dec. 15) with a $375,267,102 million pledge.
The agency has already received $107,217,059 million in pledges from several funding agencies and donor governments prior to the conference, bringing total pledges to $482,484,161 million.
The biggest pledge — $125 million — came from the United States, followed by Sweden. The latter’s combined pledges prior to and at the conference amounted to $88,893,070 million.
Meanwhile, other donor governments that offered pledges prior to the conference such as Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, South Korea, Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland made bigger commitments at the conference. Norway, for one, pledged $49,471,170, a huge leap from its initial promised contribution of $4,240,392.
But while these commitments may count as a cause for celebration, some pledges are subject to approval from their respective government’s internal budget procedures and to availability of funds, as in the case of the Slovak Republic.
The agency, however, is grateful for the support.
“This funding is vital for our work in ensuring the protection and well-being of millions of individual refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced and stateless people,” high commissioner António Guterres said. “Given the pressure that donors face in the current uncertain economic environment, we are particularly gratified to see this level of support.”
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