ReliefWeb

Key Figures (as of 27 August 2020)

4 million Refugees and asylum-seekers in Turkey including almost 3.6 million Syrian nationals and close to 330,000 registered refugees and asylumseekers of other nationalities.

Over 98% of Syrian refugees live across Turkey in 81 provinces.

2,220 Refugees departed for resettlement in 2020 as of end of August, 72 per cent of whom are Syrians.

Close to 4,800 refugees were referred to UNHCR for resettlement consideration in August.

22,650 Calls answered on the UNHCR counselling line in August with an 88 per cent answer rate for queued calls.

Emergency cash-based interventions

The disbursement of Covid-19 Emergency Cash Assistance by UNHCR in close cooperation with the Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM) and through the Postal Service of Turkey, PTT, continued in August. By the end of August, a total of 19,948 households (over 91,300 individuals) had collected their assistance. Thus, the first phase of the emergency cash assistance, targeting 20,000 households came close to completion.
A Technical Working Group comprising of DGMM and UNHCR was formed to address the challenges faced during the initial phase of the cash assistance, to reach the target of altogether 85,000 households during its second phase.
UNHCR analysed the results of the first Post-Distribution Monitoring which was conducted in July. Initial findings indicate that 51% of the recipients of the one-off COVID-19 emergency cash assistance depend on informal sources of income and only 12% have formal employment. 44% cannot meet half of their needs. The key findings also showed that 97% of respondents prefer cash as an assistance modality and 90% reported that the process went smoothly. Post Distribution Monitoring continues.