Danish Refugee Council

Danish Refugee Council

Founded	1956
Focus	Humanitarian
Headquarters	Copenhagen,Denmark
Area served	Worldwide
Method	Aid
Secretary General	Charlotte Slente
Employees	8,000
Website	www.drc.ngo

Danish Refugee Council(DRC) (Danish:Dansk Flygtningehjælp) is a privateDanishhumanitariannonprofit organization,founded in 1956. It serves as an umbrella organization for 33 member organizations.

Formed after theSecond World Warin response to the European refugee crises caused by theSoviet invasion of Hungary in 1956,DRC has been active in large scale humanitarian projects around the world. Through convoy operations DRC was responsible for delivering half of the international humanitarian aid inBosnia and Herzegovinaduring thewars of independencein theformer Yugoslaviain the 1990s.

Today the Danish Refugee Council works in more than 40 countries around the world, with humanitarian programs in conflict zones such asSomaliain theHorn of Africa,Afghanistanin Central Asia,Iraqin the Middle East andChechnyain theCaucasus.

The Danish Refugee Council is one of the key humanitarian actors inSyriaand its neighboring countries, as more than 500,000 persons receive emergency relief from DRC each month in the region. The situation in and around Syria is the largest humanitarian crisis the world is facing and 30% of the population have left their homes as a consequence of the violence. In Syria,Lebanon,Jordan,Turkeyand Iraq, DRC distributes relief aid in the form of mattresses, clothes, blankets and hygiene kits, gives educational assistance in terms of remedial classes and classes for the dropped out students, and rehabilitates shelters. Inside Syria, DRC helps displaced and conflict-affected Syrians inHoms,Daraa,Hama,AleppoandDamascus.

The international DRC activities aims to protect refugees and internally displaced persons, and to promote long term solutions. DRC assistance in acute refugee crises remains focused on responses to long-term effects.

The Danish Refugee Council is currently implementing activities within nine sectors, namely: Housing and small-scale infrastructure, Income generation through grant and micro-finance,Food security& agricultural rehabilitation and development, Displacement-related law and information, Social rehabilitation, NGO networking and capacity development, Humanitarian mine action, Information management and coordination and Emergency logistics and transport management.

DRC is also active in the fields ofdeminingand logistics and reconstruction work for various international agencies such as theUnited Nations World Food Program(WFP) and theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR).

DRC's secretary general is Charlotte Slente.

In October 2011, two DRC workers on a demining project were captured bySomali piratesinGalkayo.93 days later theywere rescuedbyUnited States Navy SEALs.

In September 2013, DRC opened a new representation office in Geneva.

In 2017, the Danish government donatedDKK2.5 million to the Danish Refugee Council for them to work together withIBMto develop a model that would track and possibly predict refugee and migrant flows, thereby improving humanitarian response planning.It is currently running its humanitarian campaign in Rohingya refugee camps inCox's Bazar.

In June 2023, while the war was ongoing, DCR organised demining in Ukraine, in areas the Russian military had left.

See also

• Danish demining group
• Norwegian Refugee Council

External links

• Dansk Flygtningehjælp(in Danish)
• Danish Refugee Council(in English)
• Danish Demining GroupArchived2010-12-25 at theWayback Machine(in English)