"Already in 2011, as crisis after crisis unfolded, more than 800,000 people crossed borders in search of refuge, an average of more than 2,000 refugees every day, and this was higher than at any time in the last decade," Guterres said in an opening address to the annual UNHCR Executive Committee.
And the situation is getting worse, he said, with more than 700,000 people have fled from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Sudan and Syria so far this year. He said the cost of helping the world's more than 42 million forcibly displaced people was also escalating fast due to drawn-out and large-scale displacements in places like Afghanistan and Somalia.
"We are at a moment when the demands on us are rising while the means available to respond have remained at a similar level to last year," he said, pointing out that UNHCR operations in Africa were especially underfunded. "At this moment, we have no room for any unforeseen needs. No reserves available. In today's unpredictable operating environment, this is a cause for deep concern," he said....
Distribution of food in Kibati-camp, Goma, Congo in 2008. UNICEF was amongst the first to get of Goma and start distribution. The amount of people needing aid and the duration since they last got food made the distribution difficult. Unicef distributed high energy biscuits and medical supplies for the centre which had been looted by government soldiers. Shot by Julien Harnels, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
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