Dutch Postcode Lottery donates 2 million euro to UNHCR

Returnees to South Sudan and refugees in Bangladesh and Ethiopia will be the beneficiaries of donations from the Dutch Postcode Lottery (NPL) to UNHCR and its NGO partners in the Netherlands.

At its yearly meeting with beneficiaries, the NPL announced that it will fund the project "Safe in Southern Sudan." a joint initiative by UNHCR and partners Cordaid, FreeVoice and Stichting Vluchteling to help achieve a safe and durable return of refugees. The agencies will receive a total of 4.4 million euro to be used for mine clearance, mine awareness, improving primary healthcare and water supplies, direct emergency assistance and radio programmes aimed at helping refugees returning to their homes. UNHCR's share of the money is 1 million euros.

Furthermore, the NPL allotted us an unearmarked donation of one million euro. UNHCR will use this money to help some 30,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar languishing in camps in Bangladesh and to assist around 100,000 refugees in Ethiopia, who come from several countries.

The NPL, the Netherlands' main charity lottery, has been a major supporter of our work for several years. It figures among the top five private donors of UNHCR.