§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the budget of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Internally Displaced People, Dr. Francis Deng; whether they arc satisfied that he has resources commensurate with the size of the problems, and whether they will ask the Secretary General to make an assessment of the numbers and humanitarian needs of the main internally-displaced populations world-wide.
§ Lord Chesham:The office of the UN Secretary General's Special Representative on Internally Displaced People is funded from the UN regular budget allocation for all mandates approved by the UN's Economic and Social Committee. In the 1994–95 biennium the total allocation of funds was $4,291,900, of which the office of the UN Special Representative on Internally Displaced People received $173,950. In addition to this the office received $59,259 in voluntary contributions.
Humanitarian relief is supplied to internally displaced persons by a number of agencies. At the request of the UN Secretary-General, UNHCR has often taken the lead in such situations, most notably in the former Yugoslavia. We continue to support the UN Secretary General's special representative and the UN Inter Agency Task Force under the chairmanship of the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs, who are 8WA considering ways to ensure that the needs of the internally displaced are met.
We understand that the UN Secretary General's special representative will produce a report on internally displaced people in time for the Human Rights Commission beginning in mid-March. He has also called for NGOs to carry out more detailed surveys in this respect.