The Refugee Nutrition Information System (RNIS) is an inter-agency collaborative effort, started in 1993 at the initiative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP), and coordinated by the Secretariat of the Administrative Committee on Coordination’s Sub-Committee on Nutrition (SCN). RNIS Reports focus attention on the most vulnerable people on earth - those forced to flee their homes and live either as refugees or internally displaced persons. These Reports bring together data from a wide variety of sources - both UN and NGO - to provide a comprehensive picture of the nutritional situation of such persons. They also provide insight into the varied elements underlying forced movements of populations as well as factors affecting nutrition. The broad scope of information provided in the Reports has extended their relevance beyond technical analysis into the areas of advocacy and public awareness.
As of 1 January 1998, there were 22.4 million persons of concern to UNHCR world-wide, including refugees, returnees, asylum seekers and some internally displaced persons. Most of the food provided to these persons comes through WFP. In 1997, WFP provided food aid to 19 million refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons world-wide. In the past five years, despite an overall decline in food aid availability, the tonnage made available for relief has remained stable.
A Memorandum of Understanding signed by WFP and UNHCR in 1994 and updated in 1997 has more clearly defined their working relationship and engendered improvement in emergency food aid provision. A better matching of the food basket to the cultural and nutritional needs of the beneficiary population has been achieved through increased access to milling facilities, the regular provision of fortified blended foods to prevent micronutrient malnutrition, and the recently revised minimum ration for populations totally dependent on food aid from 1900 to 2100 kcals/person/day.
In addition to providing data and helping to guide the direction of the RNIS project, UNHCR and WFP provide financial support. Invaluable funding has also been provided by CIDA, DFA(Ireland), DFID, NORAD, USAID, and UNICEF.
Over the years, the Reports have documented successful operations such as the repatriation of Mozambican refugees and the provision of aid to the large number of refugees affected by the crisis in the Great Lakes region. In addition, they have highlighted unmet needs and interventions to be undertaken to resolve ongoing problems.
We look forward to the continued publication of the Reports to help us track the nutritional status of uprooted populations and improve our responses. This is particularly important as we strive to promote access to appropriate and adequate nutrition as a basic human right.
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Catherine Bertini |
Sadako Ogata |
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This report is issued on the general responsibility of the
Secretariat of the U.N.’s ACC/Sub-Committee on Nutrition; the material it
contains should not be regarded as necessarily endorsed by, or reflecting the
official positions of the ACC/SCN and its U.N. member agencies. The designations
employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the
expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the ACC/SCN or its U.N.
member agencies concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or
area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or
boundaries. |
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This report was compiled by Jane Wallace, ACC/SCN
Secretariat, with the help of Barbara Reed. |
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If you have information to contribute to forthcoming reports, or would like to request back issues of the Reports on the Nutrition Situation of Refugees and Displaced Populations (RNIS), please contact: RNIS Coordinator |
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Funding support is gratefully acknowledged
from |
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Cover photo courtesy of UNHCR |
