Denmark | Global Focus

Denmark is UNHCR’s sixth largest government donor and one of the strongest supporters of UNHCR’s protection mandate.

Denmark is UNHCR’s sixth largest government donor and one of the strongest supporters of UNHCR’s protection mandate. Denmark is a founding member of UNHCR’s governing Executive Committee (ExCom) and played a key role in discussions around the establishment of the Global Compact on Refugees and the Solutions Alliance. This demonstrates a shared commitment to more sustainable and solutions-oriented responses to the situation of refugees, stateless persons, returnees and internally displaced people. Denmark is a strong supporter of multi-year planning and programming for solutions and for stronger linkages with development actors. Denmark hosts and supports UNHCR’s presence in the UN City in Copenhagen, where staff from the UNHCR Education, Identity Management, and Private Sector Partnerships teams are located.

Denmark is a key partner to UNHCR in the protection of refugees, stateless persons, returnees and internally displaced people. Denmark’s financial support to UNHCR is unwavering, and timely. Nearly 80 per cent of its contribution in 2019 came at the start of the year in the form of unearmarked or flexibly earmarked contributions. The flexibility and predictability of these contributions allows UNHCR to not only act quickly with lifesaving assistance when faced with new crises, but supports under-resourced situations to continue implementing programmes. Denmark and UNHCR also share a commitment to securing sustainable solutions for refugees and displaced people, as exemplified through Denmark’s multi-year commitment of funds for solutions in protracted situations and for creative solutions to displacement.

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More than half of the world’s refugees are children.

These South Sudanese children are living in the Nyumanzi camp in northern Uganda where UNHCR and partners created a child friendly space. These spaces as well as other activities, such as psychosocial support and child protection services, help to strengthen children’s resilience. Unearmarked funding contributed by donors such as Denmark is particularly important to help UNHCR provide these vital protection services.

©UNHCR/ Frederic Noy

Collaboration and innovation are keys to finding long-term solutions for refugees.

Ehab became a technology entrepreneur while living as a Syrian refugee in Jordan—an achievement he credits to the support he received from his new home city, Amman. Amman is part of the Cities of Solidarity initiative, which create a global network of cities committed to refugee inclusion. Flexible Danish funding for creative solutions contributed to the strengthening of this initiative.

©UNHCR/Jose Cendon

Over 900,000 Rohingya refugees are living in camps like this one in Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar.

In addition to providing shelter, clean water, sanitation and fuel, UNHCR works with the Government of Bangladesh on biometric registration which includes iris scans and finger printing. Being registered means refugees can access services, their rights are safeguarded and they have the possibility of returning home to Myanmar in the future, when conditions are safe and conducive for returns. UNHCR’s efforts in Bangladesh are supported by funding from donors

©UNHCR/Roger Arnold

In Afghanistan, around 5.2 million refugees have returned since the early 2000s.

Many, including these girls, were born in exile and need support to access schools and receive an education on their return to Kabul. Denmark provides generous contributions each year to UNHCR’s work in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran as part of the Afghanistan situation, helping refugees as well as returnees to start rebuilding their lives.

The Kalobeyei settlement in Kenya, supported by donors like Denmark, is a hub for humanitarian innovation.

Since the camp opened in June 2016, UNHCR has been using Kalobeyei as a model, due to its success in increasing self-reliance and integration among refugees into the local Turkana community. These innovations include village savings and loan association groups for promoting microfinance and self-resilience.

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