wfn.org | LWF and UNHCR Sign Agreement

[franki@elca.org]

Partnership to Improve Cooperation in Refugee Work

GENEVA, 5 January 2001 (LWI) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have signed an
agreement aimed at enhancing collaboration in their work among refugees
worldwide.

The LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko and UNHCR's Assistant High
Commissioner Soren Jessen-Petersen endorsed the Framework Agreement for
Operational Partnership (FAOP) on 19 December 2000.

Under the FAOP the UN refugee agency and the LWF will develop an active
working relationship through a common commitment to: the highest standards
of conduct; improved mechanisms for consultation and cooperation;
coordinated program planning and implementation; effective use of resources;
and coordination of each other's security and communications strategy.

Since its founding in 1947, the LWF, a global communion of 131 Lutheran 
churches with 60 million members in 72 countries, has provided assistance to
refugees, migrants and internally displaced persons. For the past 33 years
the major part of the Federation's refugee work has been through its
Department for World Service (DWS) in cooperation with the UNHCR. This
includes settlements in Tanzania and Zambia; interventions in such countries
as Angola, Kenya, Nepal, Uganda; or major repatriation of refugees to
Cambodia, El Salvador, Namibia, Zimbabwe and many other places.

The LWF/DWS in partnership with the UNHCR implemented settlement programs as
well as emergency interventions amounting to USD 8.1 million in 1998, and
USD 7.9 million in 1999.

In a statement delivered at the signing ceremony at the UNHCR Geneva office,
Dr. Noko expressed the LWF's concern over the increasing number of
internally displaced persons (IDPs). The number of IDPs, he said, "by far
exceeds the global refugee population."

Worldwide the UNHCR is responsible for some 22.3 million refugees and
displaced people. This figure includes more than 5 million IDPs whom the UN
refugee agency lists as the fastest growing group of displaced persons in
the world.

The agreement with the UNHCR is not the first that the LWF has entered into
with a UN agency. In August 1998, the World Food Program (WFP) and the LWF
signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Collaborative Working Arrangements
with the aim to improve the effectiveness of their food aid operations that
benefit millions of people worldwide.

(The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is a global communion of 131 member
churches in 72 countries representing over 60 million of the world's 63.8
million Lutherans. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of
common interest such as ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission
and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the LWF.
Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions
or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an
article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgment.]

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