Millions of refugees and displaced people around the world are bracing for winter without warm clothes, blankets, heat and medicine in the northern hemisphere. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is unable to provide support to them as it did in previous winters due to a drastic reduction in aid from Germany, the United States and many other countries, the organization reported in Geneva.
UNHCR now wants to mobilize private donors to offset reduced government funding. They have launched an appeal for donations with a target of at least 35 million dollars (around 30 million euros). The aim was to repair the bombed houses and isolate the others. Families had to receive blankets and money for medicine and cooked hot meals.
Winter clothing for refugee children in Moldova costs 82 euros
For the equivalent of 26 euros, a family in Afghanistan can be provided with a traditional stove for heating. For 82 euros, a refugee child in Moldova can be given winter clothes. For 104 euros, a family in Lebanon can winterize their home.
The aim is to help the many people in Ukraine who are threatened by a fourth winter of war, where temperatures are often minus 20 degrees, as well as more than two million Afghans, some of whom were forced to return by Pakistan and Iran to their homeland without any means. Syrians who returned to their homeland after the fall of Assad’s government in December 2024, but found their homes partially destroyed and their electricity or water infrastructure incomplete, for example, should also receive assistance.
According to UNHCR, more than twelve million people in Ukraine need assistance. The aid organization currently helps nearly 400,000 people with cash payments, heating, generators and energy storage. “Russian attacks are increasingly targeting energy infrastructure, hampering electricity, gas and water supplies,” the aid organization warned. People in areas near the front line are the group most at risk.
