§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What assessment they have made of the number of people internally displaced in Turkey, Kenya, Liberia, Afghanistan, Burma, Iraq, Bosnia, Chechnya, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan; what amount of money has been allocated in this year's budget by the United Nations to the work of the Special Representatives on Internally Displaced People, and whether they consider that the resources available are commensurate with the size of the problem.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyThe Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimate that there are currently around 30 million internally displaced persons worldwide. These figures are not broken down into individual countries. 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. Voluntary contributions may also be made through the trust fund of the Centre for Human Rights. Humanitarian relief may be supplied on a case by case basis 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 former Yugoslavia. An inter-agency task force under the chairmanship of the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs is currently considering ways to ensure that the needs of internally displaced persons are met.