• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • News
    • In the news: Rwanda

    Japan backs refugee aid in Rwanda

    A recent $5.9 million donation for Congolese refugees in Rwanda signals Japan’s growing support to multilateral partners distributing aid to refugees in Africa, a Japanese official said on Friday.

    By Johanna Morden // 19 April 2013
    People fleeing the fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo arrive at a transit camp in Rwanda. Photo by: Graham Holliday / CC BY-NC

    A recent $5.9 million donation for Congolese refugees in Rwanda signals Japan’s growing support to multilateral partners distributing aid to refugees in Africa, a Japanese official said on Friday.

    The amount will allow the U.N. Refugee Agency, the World Food Program and UNICEF to provide relief, food, medical treatment, education and improved sanitation for over 32,000 people fleeing the ongoing ethnic conflict in Congo to seek shelter in neighboring Rwanda, a relatively stable country.

    Soichiro Toyoshima, a humanitarian assistance and emergency relief officer from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Devex that this new donation aligns with the top international donor’s wider objective of boosting its assistance for refugees in Africa, where almost half a million refugees are in dire need of help, according to UNHCR.

    “Japan continues to offer [all] possible support to African refugees,” said the official, who clarified that the volume of Japan’s assistance in the future will be based on financial availability and the needs of the refugees.

    The $5.9 million will be divided between UNICEF ($2.2 million), WFP ($1.7 million) and UNHCR ($2 million), as the overall coordinator for immediate humanitarian response to refugees, according to U.N. data.

    Under its 2013 strategy for assisting refugees in Rwanda, UNHCR will focus chiefly on basic needs and essential services — including shelter, water, sanitation, health and nutrition — as well as registration and documentation, security, and resettlement for displaced populations.

    The Japanese official said the amount was committed in response to the international community’s calls for speedy and concrete measures to bolster refugee assistance in Rwanda.

    Japan places great importance to human security and both NGOs and the public sector stand to benefit from Tokyo’s future support, he added.

    “We will strengthen good partnership with governments, including host countries, neighboring countries and others as well as [the] UNHCR,” Toyoshima said. “In dealing with the refugee crisis, Japan thinks it important to mobilize support from refugee host governments and communities, and to build good partnership with them.”

    UNHCR has so far appealed for $29.8 million in 2013 to assist refugees in war-torn Congo. This amount could shoot up in the coming months as the U.N. agency expects the number of Congolese refugees to double by the end of the year.

    Read more development aid news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive top international development headlines from the world’s leading donors, news sources and opinion leaders — emailed to you FREE every business day.

    • Humanitarian Aid
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

    About the author

    • Johanna Morden

      Johanna Morden

      Johanna Morden is a community development worker by training and a global development journalist by profession. As a former Devex staff writer based in Manila, she covered the Asian Development Bank as well as Asia-Pacific's aid community at large. Johanna has written for a variety of international publications, covering social issues, disasters, government, ICT, business, and the law.

    Search for articles

    Related Stories

    Food SystemsWhich USAID-funded food and agriculture programs were cut? Which remain?

    Which USAID-funded food and agriculture programs were cut? Which remain?

    Most Read

    • 1
      The power of diagnostics to improve mental health
    • 2
      Lasting nutrition and food security needs new funding — and new systems
    • 3
      Opinion: Urgent action is needed to close the mobile gender gap
    • 4
      The UN's changing of the guard
    • 5
      The top local employers in Europe
    • News
    • Jobs
    • Funding
    • Talent
    • Events

    Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

    A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

    • About us
    • Membership
    • Newsletters
    • Advertising partnerships
    • Devex Talent Solutions
    • Post a job
    • Careers at Devex
    • Contact us
    © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement