In partnership with the Muslim World League, the UNHCR issues its semi-annual report on Islamic charitable work from Expo.
Dubai:
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in partnership with the Muslim World League, unveiled its semi-annual report on Islamic charitable work for the year 2021. The event emphasized the impact on the lives of refugee and displaced families from the donations of zakat funds and contributions received by the UNHCR through the Zakat Fund for Refugees.
The report showed 584,586 refugees and forcibly displaced people in twelve countries received assistance. These are in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Mauritania, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Malaysia.
The report also showed the total contributions of Islamic charitable work received during the first half of this year, amounted to 27.5 million US dollars, of which more than 70% are from Zakat donations.
In its new digital and interactive format, the report was revealed in a discussion session held this morning at the Muslim World League pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. A number of humanitarians, international bodies and media agencies’ representatives were at hand.
The report highlighted the UNHCR’s main partnerships in the field of Islamic charitable work, particularly with the Muslim World League, resulting in issuing a new fatwa by its Islamic Fiqh Academy to be added to the Refugee Zakat Fund’s register. The latter has more than 10 fatwas issued by senior scholars and fatwa councils. Additionally, the Rabita granted generous fundings to support refugee and displaced children in Africa. The latest of these acts, was in support of a project aimed at protecting the most vulnerable children in northeastern Nigeria, sponsoring 3,699 internally displaced children.
In this context, pointing to the importance of expanding strategic partnerships with organizations and bodies concerned with Islamic charitable work to support international humanitarian efforts, Mr. Khaled Khalifa, the UNHCR Representative in the Gulf Cooperation Council and Advisor to the High Commissioner for Islamic Finance, said: “Based on the increasing levels of forced displacement in recent years and the extension of humanitarian crises as a result of wars, violence and persecution, Islamic charitable work plays a pivotal role in responding to the increasing humanitarian needs, through its basic means such as zakat, charity and endowments. Our aim is to achieve joint humanitarian visions, and explore more ways to support refugees and forcibly displaced people around the world.”
For his part, Mr. Mishaal Al-Sha’alan, Director General of International Cooperation and Events at the Muslim World League, stressed the importance of strengthening Islamic charitable work to serve humanitarian issues, including the issue of forced displacement.
He said: "We constantly seek to boost the Muslim World League’s humanitarian role, which is the central focus of our tasks and work since our inception. However, the best way to attain that goal is to develop strategic partnerships with resourceful humanitarian institutions at the international level, such as the UNHCR, which we have been working with them throughout the years. We are extending a helping hand to refugee and displaced families in areas imperiled by wars and disasters.
Complete report link: https://giving.unhcr.org/en/ip-report/
