UN Mideast refugee chief says Western funding shortfall could lead to turbulence
A funding shortfall for fragile Middle Eastern states that host refugees could lead to turbulence in international relations, the UN refugee chief for that region is warning.
"The international community needs to carry part of its shared responsibility," said Ayman Gharaibeh, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees director for the Middle East and North Africa.
He said during a visit to Ottawa this week that the "political perception" and the "optics" of the reduced funding could spell a difficult path ahead -- and though Canada is one of the few countries maintaining its support, he is urging Ottawa to pressure its allies to do the same.
The region Gharaibeh oversees is the site of numerous migration crises, with Syrians languishing in neighbouring Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan for the past decade and Yemenis displaced within their own country amid civil war.
Countries such as Iraq and Jordan have used UN funds toward expanding their school systems to absorb large numbers of refugee children, in an attempt to prevent those fleeing conflict from growing up illiterate.
Gharaibeh argues that keeping that funding flowing is the only short-term solution to political crises that have no end in sight, and thus no timeline for when refugees can come home.
"We have no other option but to continue sustaining these programs at a reasonable level so that these refugees can live in a decent life until we find a solution," he said.
"We don't want any of these states, particularly the smaller ones, to feel like they're left holding the baby on their own now, with no sufficient international support."
Yet that's exactly what the UN fears. Countries have been warning that they can't fund refugee programs at the same rate as in past years.
"We hear from all governments that budgets are under pressure, because of COVID (and the) rising cost of living," said Gharaibeh. "This signal of reduced funding may shake that very important relation and status that we have established with the host states, and with refugees."
Gharaibeh said that small countries without enough support could become less co-operative members of international organizations.
Amnesty International warned in October that Syrians being voluntarily sent home from Lebanon can't make a free and informed decision to return, while Turkey has repeatedly threatened to send refugees onward to Western countries if European countries withhold aid.
Meanwhile, the cash-strapped UNHCR has been grappling with donor shortfalls and rising costs.
Gharaibeh's team gives monthly replenished ATM cards to urban refugees, so they can pay for rent and electricity. He now has to either fund fewer families or reduce the amount that each receives.
At the same time, the Middle East relies on Russia and Ukraine for flour and fertilizer, meaning that the UNHCR's money buys less food and supplies amid price hikes created by the conflict.
Russia's assault on Ukraine also led to new refugee flows, on top of those stemming from conflict in Ethiopia, drought in Somalia and chaos in Haiti.
"The needs have doubled," Gharaibeh said, even if the budget was to remain flat.
He said he's in Ottawa to ask the government to stick with its current funding promises, consider a boost to its resettlement of refugees and push allies to do the same.
Though other states are wavering under different pressures, he said, Canada has been steady. "They have been the most predictable, reliable and consistent."
Gharaibeh's branch of the UNHCR funds winter needs separately from its general funding, and this is an area where what he calls the "downward slope" in funding is especially visible.
While the agency reached 58 per cent of its funding goal for 2021 by early December last year, governments have only contributed enough to reach eight per cent of this year's goal.
Syrians are opting to return to their country, he said, despite ongoing conflict there. Others who have resisted for years the daring trek across the Mediterranean and into Europe are now deciding to risk the journey.
"The Syrians have not been part of that until recently," he said. "These are all symptoms of a desperate, dire situation."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2022.
Correction
This is a corrected story. A previous version reported that Ayman Gharaibeh, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees director for the Middle East and North Africa, said small countries without enough support will likely try sending refugees onward to Western countries.
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
OPINION What King Charles' schedule being too 'full' to accommodate son suggests about relationship with Prince Harry
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
Ontario man devastated to learn $150,000 line of credit isn't insured after wife dies
An Ontario man found out that a line of credit he thought was insured actually isn't after his wife of 50 years died.
Boy Scouts of America is rebranding. Here's why they're now named Scouting America
After more than a century, Boy Scouts of America is rebranding as Scouting America, another major shakeup for an organization that once proudly resisted change.
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Rape, terror and death at sea: How a boat carrying Rohingya children, women and men capsized
In March, Indonesian officials and local fishermen rescued 75 people from the overturned hull of a boat off the coast of Indonesia. Until now, little was known about why the boat capsized.
'A huge difference': These adults born in the '90s partnered with their parents to buy homes in Ontario
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
For their protection, immigrants critical of China and India call for speedy passage of Canada's foreign interference legislation
Canadian immigrants threatened by hostile regimes are urging parliamentarians to quickly pass the 'Countering Foreign Interference Act' so they can feel safe living in their adopted home.
How Drake and Kendrick Lamar's rap beef escalated within weeks
A long-simmering feud between hip-hop superstars Drake and Kendrick Lamar reached a boiling point in recent days as the pair traded increasingly personal insults on a succession of diss tracks. Here’s a quick overview of what’s behind the ongoing beef.
Local Spotlight
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Investigating the tale of Winnipeg's long-running mystery bookstore
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
'Love has no boundaries': Sask. couple in their 90s and 80s get married
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
Video shows gaggle of geese stopping traffic on Highway 1 near Vancouver
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.