France | Global Focus

France is a reliable donor and partner to UNHCR, providing predictable contributions and support in many countries in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.

France is a reliable donor and partner to UNHCR, providing predictable contributions and support in many countries in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. Some 35% of the funding from France is unearmarked, giving UNHCR critical flexibility to address emerging crises or underfunded situations. As a resettlement country, France welcomes around 5,000 refugees each year, providing people with an opportunity to start a new life. France has also shown commitment to UNHCR through regular funding of the Junior Professional Officer (JPO) programme, offering young French professionals the opportunity to work for UNHCR at Headquarters and in the field.

France is committed to the principles of the Grand Bargain and has a proactive approach towards the implementation of the humanitarian-development nexus. France also supports new models of refugee assistance and innovative approaches in a bid to increase the resilience and economic independence of refugees. Gender equality, education, as well as energy and infrastructure are important priorities that France supports. The French government played an active role in the Global Refugee Forum (GRF) in December 2019 which drew 3,000 participants from across the world and saw some 840 pledges made to reboot the responses for millions of people uprooted by war and persecution and to support the communities that hosted them. During the GRF France specifically championed the issue of clean and renewable energy in refugee settlements.

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Paris joins the World Refugee Day celebrations.

Refugee chef Mohammad El-Khaldy puts the finishing touches to his dishes as he prepares to celebrate the 2018 Refugee Food Festival, held as part of festivities for World Refugee Day. Famous venues in the French capital took part, celebrating refugee culture and bringing members of the French and international community together.

©UNHCR/ Benjamin Loyseau

Clean, potable water is distributed in Bidi Bidi refugee camp, northern Uganda, by a solar-powered system.

Bidi Bidi is one of the largest refugee camps in the world. In 2019, UNHCR led an initiative to extract water from boreholes and distribute it to tap stands serving over 200,000 refugees and local members of the community. France is one of many donors supporting UNHCR’s work in Uganda.

©UNHCR/ Michele Sibiloni

#AvecLesRefugies – all aboard the Solidarity Train.

A mobile exhibition, the Solidarity Train encouraged members of the public to climb aboard and learn about the refugee crisis and UNHCR’s work. Its final destination was Geneva in December 2019, coinciding with the Global Refugee Forum.

©UNHCR/ Markel Redondo

“The smoke was everywhere. Worst of all, the children were coughing, and their eyes burned.”

Everyday, hundreds of tons of firewood are consumed in Cox’s Bazar, with the population exposed to the harmful effects of smoke inhalation. Rohingya refugees Mostafa Kamal, 37, and his wife Monowara, 30, are now cooking with bottled gas in their shelter in Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Bangladesh, thanks to UNHCR and the support of generous donors like France.

Refugees plant trees as part of the "make Minawao green again" project, Cameroon.

In Minawao, the arrival of refugees from Nigeria has put pressure on the local environment, leading to deforestation. UNHCR is working with partners and refugees to plant 20,000 trees in the area, using ‘cocoons’ to protect the saplings and encourage them to survive.

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