Through its regional office in Riyadh, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) participated at this year’s 32nd Janadriyah Festival for the second year in a row, with the purpose of familiarizing the community with its work and its longstanding partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the fields of providing aid and relief to refugees and displaced persons.
Since its inception on 14 December 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly, the UNHCR has been leading and coordinating global action to protect refugees and solve their problems around the world, in addition to aiding and protecting the rights of refugees and those displaced from conflicts and disasters. The UNHCR currently employs more than 11,000 individuals in 130 countries.
UNHCR Partnership Officer Amal Al Amri stated that the UNHCR regional office in Riyadh is proud to partner and work with the Saudi government and its different agencies, including the King Salman Center for Humanitarian Aid and Relief, the Saudi Fund for Development, and other non-governmental sectors of humanitarian institutions, active individuals, and humanitarians who have supported UNHCR programs with more than 200 million USD over the past ten years alone.
Al Amri praised the excellent humanitarian role played by Saudi Arabia in supporting the UNHCR, clarifying that the Kingdom is at the forefront of countries providing generous aid to refugees, based on the principles of the Islamic faith which call for love and peace and require the relief of the afflicted and the assistance of those in need without ethnic or religious discrimination. She noted that the UNHCR aspires to continue its strategic partnership with the Kingdom and move forward with methods of cooperation and coordination to support the humanitarian needs of refugees around the world.