Algiers, June 19, 2016 (SPS) - The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will hold, in July in Geneva, a meeting of the donor countries to support the humanitarian aid to the refugees of Western Sahara, said this UN agency.
“UNHCR will hold a meeting on 12 July 2016 in Geneva to call on the financial backers to contribute to the financing of the humanitarian aid for the Sahrawi refugees,” the representative of this agency in Algeria Hamdi Bukhari told APS on the eve of the celebration of the World Refugee Day.
During his last visit to the Sahrawi refugee camps, the United Nations’ Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addressed a message to the international donors to increase their aid to these forgotten people.
“A meeting of the donor countries is expected to be held in Geneva shortly,” said UN Secretary General in a statement to the press during this visit.
Bukhari underlined that this meeting, which will be held with the participation of several UN agencies, aims at increasing the number of the donors and broadening the space of financial backers.
UNHCR’s representative broached the sufferings of the Sahrawi refugees for more than 40 years and underlined the “worrying” situation, calling the international community to support the humanitarian aid for this population.
In this regard, he underlined that the World Refugee Day is meant to be an opportunity to give hope of this population and to stress its increasingly unbearable situation.
Algeria has always been a host country since its independence and its “invaluable” contribution indicates an “active solidarity” with the refugees in general and the refugees of Western Sahara in particular, he said. (SPS)
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