IDPs from at a makeshift camp near Trincomalee, .

4 UNHCR Global Report 2008 by António Guterres UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES

HIS GLOBAL REPORT documents UNHCR’s efforts in a volatile year. Climate change, extreme poverty and conflict are becoming more and more interrelated, increasing forced displacement. Energy and food crises relented onlyinthefaceofaglobalrecession. Recognizing the speed and scale of the economic crisis,T UNHCR acted promptly to mitigate its worst impacts. Toa large extent, these efforts were successful and beneficiaries have not suffered. It was clear by the end of the year, however, that the worst of the crisis was yet to come.

Responding to the increasingly complex pattern of forced displacement worldwide has required UNHCR to increase emergency spending more than fourfold and its overall global expenditures by 50 per cent since 2006. At the same time, continuing with reforms initiated in 2007, UNHCR reduced the size of its staff in Geneva to 767, and diminished Headquarters’ share of overall expenditure. Comprehensive reviews of the Division of Information Systems and Telecommunications, the Supply Management Service and the Inspector General’s Office were undertaken in 2008, and recommendations are being implemented. UNHCR also decided to consolidate training and learning functions in a Global Learning Centre being established in Budapest.

Significant progress was made in the other four strands of UNHCR reform in 2008: results-based management; the field review; regionalization and decentralization; and human resources reform. Focus, the software that integrates UNHCR’s protection and programme efforts and supports UNHCR’s results-based management system, including the transition to needs-based budgeting through the global needs assessment, began implementation at the end of 2008. A new comprehensive Global Accountability Framework is also being

UNHCR / N. NG prepared. Revised guidelines for designing UNHCR’s presence

UNHCR Global Report 2008 5 in the field were issued to help centre increased from 11 to 94 per cent. standardize workforce profiles and office The incidence of malaria declined in designations. They are expected to bring Kenya from 84 new cases per 1000 about greater predictability and people in 2006 to 9.8 new cases per 1000 coherence in UNHCR’s presence people in 2008. worldwide. Several regional offices in and Asia became fully operational Newinitiativeswerebeguninthe in2008andbytheendoftheyear, water and sanitation sector and on UNHCR had 16 regional offices covering anaemia. Anaemia is probably the most 67 countries. This was coupled common preventable nutritional with decentralization of the Regional problem in the world. Left unaddressed Bureaux for and the Americas. A at the individual level, it can undermine redesigned and improved performance a child’s mental, social, emotional and appraisal and management system was physical development and increase introduced in November 2008 and a new maternal mortality. Left unaddressed at Staff Management Consultative Council the societal level, it can reduce economic was created to advise on a range of productivity and diminish national Climate change, human resources issues, including development. Various treatment proposed improvements to UNHCR’s strategies to address anaemia, including extreme poverty recruitment, postings, promotions and micronutrient powders, were begun to rotation policies. Additionally, an Ethics reduce its prevalence in refugee and conflict Office was created and a Whistleblower’s operations, such as in Bangladesh and are becoming Policy put in place. Nepal.

more and more UNHCR has pursued these reforms hroughout the year, UNHCR paid interrelated, to improve the protection, assistance and increased attention to solutions it is mandated to deliver and to asylum-migration issues, hosting increasing ensure that maximum available T regional conferences in the Gulf resourcessupporttheneedsof of Aden and WestAfrica and improving forced beneficiaries. This is the most the response in key operations, such as displacement. fundamental part of the Office’s . In December 2008, at the accountability to its beneficiaries. It is a Dialogue on Protection Challenges, the responsibility UNHCR takes very nearly 90 States and dozens of seriously, as demonstrated by its non-governmental and other participation in the peer review of participants agreed to renew their efforts accountability to beneficiaries, an with UNHCR to find solutions to initiative of the Steering Committee for protracted situations. Humanitarian Response. In 2008, UNHCR made significant n2008,protectionandassistance progress in the pursuit of durable efforts balanced the imperatives of solutions. With strong support from immediate and longer term, more resettlement countries, UNHCR was Istructural response. Funded by able to increase the number of referrals resources freed up by the reforms, by 20 per cent, building on the UNHCR’s initiatives to address critical impressive increase of the previous year. gaps in the areas of malaria, Approximately 120,000 refugees were malnutrition, reproductive health and submitted for resettlement to 12 sexual and gender-based violence began traditional and nine new resettlement to show results. Infant mortality rates countries. In addition, an evacuation decreased among refugees in eastern transit facility was established in Sudan, Uganda and Kenya. Improved Romania for processing emergency maternal and child nutrition reduced resettlement cases. the rate of low birth-weight deliveries in Bangladesh from 15 to 7 per cent. While official statistics are not yet Investment in maternity wards and the available, over 600,000 refugees returned engagement of more skilled health to their countries of origin in 2008. workers increased the availability of Despite the significant return and delivery rooms and strengthened the reintegration challenges, more than care mothers received. In Ethiopia, the 280,000 refugees returned to Afghanistan proportion of deliveries in a health in 2008. Nearly 150,000 refugees returned

6 UNHCR Global Report 2008 to Sudan and almost 100,000 to Burundi. cooperated closely with the African More than 50,000 repatriated to the Union in preparation for the Special Democratic Republic of the Congo and Summit planned for 2009 in Uganda to more than 10,000 to Angola, Liberia and consider the first legally binding Rwanda, respectively. Following instrument specifically related to repatriation, programmes to rehabilitate internal displacement. refugee-affected areas were initiated in 2008 in Guinea, Ethiopia, Kenya and UNHCR also reinforced cooperation Uganda. in the UN’s Delivering as One initiative, which is benefitting people of concern Local integration initiatives were and host communities in a variety of undertaken or reinforced in Serbia, The settings, and catalysing increased former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, activities by development actors. With its Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, the United lead role for the protection, shelter and Republic of Tanzania and WestAfrica. the coordination and management of Thanks to the extraordinary generosity camps for people displaced by conflict, of the United Republic of Tanzania, UNHCR cooperated with the Office for more than 170,000 refugees who fled the Coordination of Humanitarian Many of today’s Burundi in 1972 will have access to Affairs and the Red Cross and Red naturalization. In West Africa, a regional Crescent Movement in response to the conflicts show local integration initiative for Sierra post-election violence in Kenya and in a Leonean and Liberian refugees under number of ongoing situations. UNHCR no sign of the free movement protocols of the worked closely with the UN Emergency abating and some Economic Community of WestAfrican Relief Coordinator to ensure a common States raised the interest of other approach on issues of vital mutual are actually regional bodies in Africa. interest, such as preserving worsening. The humanitarian space. The year also saw a major resulting breakthrough in reducing statelessness. hroughout 2008, we were After a landmark decision by the High reminded how dangerous displacement is Court in Bangladesh confirmed the humanitarian work can be. increasingly Bangladeshi citizenship of the T Significant additional resources difficultto Bihari/Urdu-speaking communities, the for security were made available to Government stepped-up voter operations in the Horn of Africa, the address. registration and the issuance of national , South-WestAsia and identity cards. UNHCR funded research elsewhere. on the legal status of the population and lobbied extensively for a solution to their Sustaining the progress we have situation. An estimated 250,000 to made will not be easy. Many of today’s 300,000 people benefited from the conflicts show no sign of abating and recent change in policy and a large some are actually worsening. The proportion of them subsequently voted resulting displacement is increasingly for the first time ever in the general difficult to address. The economic crisis elections held in December. UNHCR’s threatens aid and humanitarian budgets revised budget structure, which treats to an extent that even robust mitigation efforts to prevent and reduce efforts and increased fundraising from statelessness and protect stateless people the private sector, which surpassed USD as core activities, should result in more 50 million in 2008, may not be able to systematic attention across the make up. Whatever the challenges, and organization to identifying and the missions given it by the international responding to issues of statelessness. community, UNHCR will persevere in pursuing its mandate. NHCR reinforced its partnerships with non-governmental and regional organizations and its U António Guterres collaboration with UN and other agencies throughout 2008. More than 200 NGO partners attended the 2008 UNHCR-NGO consultations. UNHCR

UNHCR Global Report 2008 7