According to a report published here today, Latin America faces the greatest displacement of its population, while funding to care for refugees meets only a third of its needs.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which assists 21.4 million people on the continent, has warned it desperately needs funds to continue this work but has received just under a third of the budget needed for its humanitarian operations this year.
Colombia, Venezuela, Central America, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Haiti presented the most complex situations in an increasingly aggravated context.
The agency’s indices point to record population displacement in the sub-region, which houses a fifth of the people it provides shelter and assistance to worldwide.
UNHCR pointed out that a lack of funding can affect the maintenance of safe spaces and shelters in border areas and the distribution of basic needs.
Likewise, the scarcity of resources prevents access to refugee status determination, regularization, and documentation processes; the distribution of cash assistance to people in vulnerable situations; and conducting activities to protect children and prevent gender-based violence.
In response, the agency called on governments to take action on behalf of refugees, asylum-seekers, and displaced persons and to work to protect the most vulnerable populations.
