Saudi telecom, info technological know-how, and postal marketplaces hit $65.6bn in 2020

DUBAI: The United Nations’ refugee agency on Monday claimed a 12.5 p.c increase in donations to its Refugee Zakat Fund final 12 months, ensuing in a 59 percent improve in the number of refugees benefiting from this assistance.

Zakat is a person of the 5 Pillars of Islam and is a religious duty of Muslims to donate income to charitable companies.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) established up the Refugee Zakat Fund in 2019 and final yr it assisted 2.1 million beneficiaries in 13 international locations, like Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Mauritania, Niger, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

According to the UNHCR’s Yearly Islamic Philanthropy Report, $48.6 million was lifted in 2020, an enhance of 12.5 percent calendar year-on-calendar year.

This meant that 2.1 million refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) benefited from the Refugee Zakat Fund in 2020, a increase of 59 per cent year-on-calendar year. In accordance to the report, 55 % of the zakat donations have been for Yemen, adopted by Bangladesh and Lebanon.

Commenting on the effects of Islamic philanthropy on marginalized communities, Prof. Dr. Koutoub Moustafa Sano, secretary-normal of the Worldwide Islamic Fiqh Academy, explained: “With far more than 50 per cent of the refugees and IDPs coming from OIC international locations, the Muslim community responded with generosity to UNHCR’s Refugee Zakat Fund, in certain in the context of the outcomes of the pandemic. But the demands are however high, and there is much area left to address for the expenditures of zakat-compliant pursuits.”

Even with the increase in donations, the UNHCR has forecast that it would need $9.1 billion to completely tackle the wants of refugees and IDPs close to the earth in 2021.