UNHCR: Millions of refugees face winter hardships with threadbare support

GENEVA - As temperatures start to drop in many regions, millions of refugees and people displaced within their own countries are facing a gruelling winter with far less assistance as humanitarian giving plummets, and many will be left with little to protect them from the bitter cold, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warns today.

"Humanitarian budgets are stretched to breaking point and the winter support that we offer will be much less this year," said Dominique Hyde, UNHCR's Director of External Relations, who just returned from Syria and Jordan. "Families will have to endure freezing temperatures without things many of us take for granted: a proper roof, insulation, heating, blankets, warm clothes or medicine."

UNHCR is today launching its global winter fundraising campaign to help forcibly displaced families and returnees in a number of hard-hit locations meet their urgent needs in the coming months. This is one of the agency's most important fundraising moments.

This year, with governments slashing their assistance to partners like UNHCR, it's more important than ever that individuals and private donors step up to save lives as the mercury drops. UNHCR plans to raise at least $35 million to help repair homes that have been bombed, insulate houses, provide warmth and blankets to children and the elderly, and money to buy medicines and hot food.

In the Middle East, the situation remains extremely fragile, yet well over 1 million Syrians have been able to return to their country since the fall of the Assad regime, with many arriving to houses destroyed by years of war and fighting. The most vulnerable families face the cold with nothing to shield them; funding cuts risk leaving 750,000 people without vital support through the season, including blankets, mattresses, kitchen sets, solar lamps and winter clothing.

"Families I met in Jordan hold on to the hope of returning but are daunted by the immense challenge of rebuilding," Hyde added. "With a bitter winter approaching, most are struggling to overcome the hurdles with almost nothing."

In Afghanistan, sub-zero temperatures are already leaving many families exposed. Nine in ten Afghans live in poverty even after the end of more than four decades of conflict, with the country still facing an economic crisis, rising unemployment and public services and social support systems stretched to breaking point. Over 2.2 million Afghans have returned from Pakistan and Iran this year in extremely difficult conditions: they are coming back empty-handed and with few prospects. Some have never set foot in Afghanistan before. Two devastating earthquakes in the last months have left families even more vulnerable to the elements.

This will be the fourth winter of full-scale war for millions in Ukraine, including internally displaced people. Humanitarian needs continue to grow as intensifying attacks claim civilian lives and destroy infrastructure, cumulatively adding to disruptions to gas, electricity and water. Temperatures risk plunging as low as -20°C, and families who have already been overwhelmed by years of violence and destruction face an especially harsh season.

"As temperatures plummet in the northern hemisphere, so is humanitarian funding," Hyde added. "Displaced families should not have to face winter alone. Our teams are on the ground, determined to protect refugees from the cold, but we are running out of time and resources. We need more funding to help make many lives slightly more tolerable."

• In Afghanistan, $30 can provide a bukhary, a traditional heating device to keep a family warm during winter
• $53 helps one refugee access medical care in Jordan
• $80 can provide a rapid thermal kit to help people in Ukraine stay warm in their homes
• $95 can support a refugee child with winter clothes in Moldova
• $120 can provide a shelter kit to a refugee family in Lebanon to repair their shelter ahead of winter
• $181 can provide a winter kit to a family in Syria.

For more information, please contact:

• In Damascus, Celine Schmitt, [email protected], +963 (0) 989 050 400
• In Kabul, Charlie Goodlake, [email protected], +44 7810 260093
• In Kyiv: Elisabeth Arnsdorf Haslund, [email protected], +380 95 239 0072
• In Geneva: Matthew Saltmarsh, [email protected], +41 79 967 99 36