UNHCR, QC sign pacts to support displaced people

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and Qatar Charity (QC) have signed three agreements worth $4mn in support of UNHCR operations in Iraq, Bangladesh and Yemen.
These agreements were signed at the QC headquarters in Doha by Khaled Khalifa, UNHCR’s regional representative to the Gulf Co-operation Council countries, and Faisal Rashid al-Fehaida, COO of Qatar Charity.
The agreements support UNHCR’s projects focused on providing much-needed assistance to internally displaced Iraqis and Yemenis, in addition to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, a statement notes.
The first agreement focuses on providing around 80,000 vulnerable Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh with essential assistance for shelter, energy and water and sanitation, with total contribution of $2mn.
The ceremony also covered an agreement worth $1mn to provide long-term shelter rehabilitation support for 300 families (approximately 1,800 individuals) of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Iraq.
An additional agreement was signed based on which Qatar Charity will contribute $1mn to provide rental assistance for returnee families and communities in Yemen, in the form of cash grants. Around 12,600 individuals in Yemen will benefit from this project.
“UNHCR highly appreciated its long partnership with QC, which plays a vital role towards supporting our ability to respond to the most pressing humanitarian needs of internally displaced persons in Iraq and Yemen, and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh,” said Khalifa.
“Collaborating with UNHCR allows us to diversify and strengthen our support of programmes focused on improving the situation of refugees and IDPs,” added al-Fehaida.
UNHCR and Qatar Charity have a long track record of co-operation in support of displaced people over many years. Since 2011, Qatar Charity has provided over $34mn to UNHCR’s programmes, and has delivered essential humanitarian assistance to more than 1.5mn refugees and internally displaced persons in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan, Somalia and Bangladesh.
In December 2018, UNHCR and QC launched the QC4HCR multi-year initiative for five years, which aims to mobilise an annual contribution of $30mn to fund UNHCR’s programmes globally.