Middle East

Operational information on the Middle East subregion is presented below. A summary of this can also be downloaded in PDF format. This subregion covers the following countries:

Subregion: Middle East

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Latest update of camps and office locations 21 Nov 2016. By clicking on the icons on the map, additional information is displayed.

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Budgets and Expenditure in Subregion Middle East

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2016 {"categories":[2012,2013,2014,2015,2016],"budget":[695.851374562,1445.38803915,1767.45606157,1956.138243929,1911.753328647],"expenditure":[431.06647686,961.25416817,1099.48857212,1059.45956475,1212.9320557]} {"categories":[2012,2013,2014,2015,2016],"p1":[453.287096122,1060.74997701,1071.29315117,1171.649811879,1074.174511887],"p2":[3.21056639,3.74482986,3.83262054,3.89799389,2.28713136],"p3":[29.91426377,27.30414868,39.59885527,35.76378805,26.70785472],"p4":[209.43944828,353.5890836,652.73143459,744.82665011,808.58383068]} {"categories":[2012,2013,2014,2015,2016],"p1":[287.74575398,691.76318386,712.10525101,715.5914882,751.4589796],"p2":[1.08610169,1.35669238,3.0784008,2.16809421,1.48631248],"p3":[22.86569699,14.49497183,10.53576239,11.32961956,1.89021959],"p4":[119.3689242,253.6393201,373.76915792,330.37036278,458.09654403]}

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People of Concern - 2016

[["Refugees",2252789],["Refugee-like situation",32542],["Asylum-seekers",96190],["IDPs",11955323],["Returned IDPs",2971074],["Returned refugees",159],["Stateless",372442],["Others of concern",21391]]

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Plan Overview
Year-End Report

Response in 2016

In 2016, complex and multiple armed conflicts in the Middle East resulted in increased internal displacement as well as displacement across borders. As of end 2016, there were 6.3 million Syrians, 3 million Iraqis internally displaced, as well as nearly 4.9 million Syrian refugees and more than 245,000 Iraqi refugees in the subregion.

Despite the challenging operational context, UNHCR, as part of the Whole of Syria response, provided core relief items to more than 4.1 million people in Syria. Protection and community services interventions including child protection services and sexual and gender-based violence prevention and response activities reached more than two million internally displaced people (IDPs).

UNHCR, together with UNDP, led the Regional refugee and resilience plan (3RP) to address the protection and assistance needs of Syrian refugees as well as the most vulnerable members of host communities.

In Iraq, UNHCR and its partners scaled up activities in the governorates of Anbar, Kirkuk, Ninewa and Salah al-Din to respond to increasing displacement. UNHCR built eight additional camps and provided emergency material and protection assistance to people displaced in and around Mosul. UNHCR also worked to ensure that displaced Iraqis have access to civil documentation and information about the situation in their places of origin.
In Yemen, conditions on the ground significantly deteriorated after close to two years of conflict. UNHCR continued to advocate for the preservation of protection space and access to basic services for refugees and asylum seekers, paying particular attention to people with specific needs. UNHCR also maintained the protection footprint for IDPs, including in its Protection Cluster and Shelter/NFI/CCCM leadership role. UNHCR also targeted the newly displaced, providing emergency shelter, non-food items, as well as a focus on cash-based assistance.

Operations

Operations in Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen are presented in separate country pages.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries hosted millions of third-country nationals, some of whom originate from refugee-producing countries.

While there is no national legislation to govern the treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers in the six countries of the GCC, constructive engagement with authorities throughout the region has enabled UNHCR to identify durable solutions for the most vulnerable. The protection needs of Syrian nationals in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia were closely monitored. There were several positive developments with respect to legal pathways in GCC countries, in particular with the introduction of decrees that ease restrictions on certain nationals and expand access to services.

The number of asylum applications lodged by people residing in GCC countries increased during the last two years due to an increasingly complex regional security climate and spontaneous changes in employment status.

Regarding statelessness, there have been few developments.

Summary (ENG)

2,388	Number of personnel (international and national)
43	Number of offices
1,872 million	Overall funding requirements USD (ExCom-approved 2016 budget)

Operational Environment and Strategy

As the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria) progresses into its fifth year, most of the 4 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt see no prospect of returning home in the near future. Inside Syria, the situation is deteriorating rapidly, and some 7.6 million people are internally displaced.

Similarly, the ongoing conflict in Iraq has resulted in the internal displacement of some 3.2 million people, and an exodus of over 205,000 refugees to neighbouring countries.

Syrian and Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) in the region are becoming increasingly vulnerable and impoverished as conflict persists. In the second half of 2015, Europe saw a dramatic increase in refugee arrivals that is expected to continue into 2016. This evolving crisis has galvanized international consensus on the need for interlinked development and humanitarian efforts. In 2016, UNHCR will continue to advocate for strengthened protection space in host countries and increased resettlement.

The humanitarian situation in Yemen also deteriorated further in 2015, aggravated by ongoing instability throughout the country. Since March 2015, over 2.3 million people were displaced internally and over 122,000 people fled the country, prompting the declaration of a system-wide Level 3 emergency. At the same time, some 59,000 individuals from other countries arrived in Yemen in the first nine months of 2015 in search of safety, protection and better opportunities. The diverse and complex mixed movements from and to Yemen pose a challenge in the immediate neighbouring countries and beyond. UNHCR will continue to provide life-sustaining assistance, register new arrivals, conduct refugee status determination, and undertake detention monitoring and resettlement processing.

Response and Implementation

Operations in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen are presented in separate country chapters. For other countries where UNHCR operates in the subregion, please see below.

In Israel, there are approximately 45,000 individuals of concern to UNHCR. The Office will continue to work with the Government and civil society to promote measures to enhance protection, including by promoting access to legal status and rights associated with asylum, and advocating for measures to enhance protection.

The countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf are host to millions of foreign workers, many originating from refugee-producing countries. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of Yemenis who had previously crossed irregularly into Saudi Arabia have now regularized their status. Accordingly, UNHCR will pursue a multi-sectoral approach to protection, through capacity-building, advocacy for non-refoulement and durable solutions, in close coordination and partnership with relevant governments and other stakeholders.

From its Regional Office in Saudi Arabia (which covers Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates), and its offices in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait, UNHCR will continue to raise awareness about its mandate and activities in support of refugees and stateless people and to promote a culture of transparency and shared responsibility, with the aim of mobilizing resources for its operations from both the public and private sectors.

Summary (ENG) or Résumé (FR)

Budget and Expenditure
Voluntary Contributions

2016 Budget and Expenditure in Middle East | USD

Operation		Pillar 1 Refugee programme	Pillar 2 Stateless programme	Pillar 3 Reintegration projects	Pillar 4 IDP projects	Total
Iraq	Budget Expenditure	116,487,674 98,771,582	804,241 308,237	26,707,855 1,890,220	402,946,185 237,055,646	546,945,954 338,025,685
Israel	Budget Expenditure	3,079,904 2,672,439	0 0	0 0	0 0	3,079,904 2,672,439
Jordan	Budget Expenditure	318,803,538 218,328,800	0 0	0 0	0 0	318,803,538 218,328,800
Lebanon	Budget Expenditure	462,446,931 350,041,934	975,064 804,911	0 0	0 0	463,421,995 350,846,845
Saudi Arabia Regional Office	Budget Expenditure	4,261,371 3,243,318	225,565 186,954	0 0	0 0	4,486,936 3,430,272
Syrian Arab Republic	Budget Expenditure	52,750,132 23,572,702	194,642 109,320	0 0	262,745,620 113,817,921	315,690,394 137,499,943
Syrian Regional Refugee Coordination Office	Budget Expenditure	28,403,396 23,093,351	0 0	0 0	67,799,722 58,273,736	96,203,118 81,367,087
United Arab Emirates	Budget Expenditure	2,674,303 2,290,861	87,620 76,890	0 0	0 0	2,761,923 2,367,751
Yemen	Budget Expenditure	48,970,754 27,284,663	0 0	0 0	75,092,305 48,949,241	124,063,058 76,233,904
Regional activities	Budget Expenditure	36,296,509 2,159,328	0 0	0 0	0 0	36,296,509 2,159,328
Total	Budget Expenditure	1,074,174,512 751,458,980	2,287,131 1,486,312	26,707,855 1,890,220	808,583,831 458,096,544	1,911,753,329 1,212,932,056