UN calls on Member States to ramp up donations for humanitarian crises in 2015

                       

Top United Nations officials have encouraged Member States to donate $450 million to the Organization’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) – a rapid response mechanism for humanitarian disasters – ahead of the coming year as proliferating crises and sustained conflicts continue to push global humanitarian needs to unparalleled heights and place growing demands on the UN. 
“Humanitarian assistance is one of the most important functions of the United Nations,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told delegates gathered at UN Headquarters in New York today. “When natural disasters strike and conflict rages, it is our duty to do everything we can for the women, children and men caught up in crisis.”
2014 has been a particularly difficult year dominated by “very severe humanitarian emergencies,” the Secretary-General noted. In Syria and Iraq, millions were surviving on a “bare minimum” while hundreds of thousands of others lived in “harsh conditions” at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya – the largest of its kind in the world. Other crises in South Sudan and the Central African Republic as well as in the countries affected by the Ebola outbreak were pushing the humanitarian system to its limits, he explained. 
“The depth and severity of humanitarian crises is rising, due to the effects of climate change, urbanization, population growth and competition for resources,” Mr. Ban continued. “When the Central Emergency Response Fund started in 2006, some 30 million people were in need of aid. Now that number is more than 100 million.”
Since 2006, CERF has disbursed more than $3.6 billion to emergencies in 88 countries. In 2014, however, the majority of CERF funding went to assist with crises in South Sudan, Sudan and the Central African Republic. Another $280 million went towards funding rapid response projects, including efforts to provide shelter for displaced communities in Pakistan and to meet the urgent needs of families affected by floods in Bolivia, Burundi and the Solomon Islands. 
, Valerie Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, underscored the impact of the response funding, noting that in “truly challenging times” with humanitarian needs reaching “unprecedented levels,” the UN and international community needed to ensure that CERF “continues to be effective and serves the needs of the most vulnerable.”
“The Central Emergency Response Fund is one of the most effective tools we have to help people face the immediate, devastating effects of natural disasters, armed conflict and chronic emergencies,” agreed Mr. Ban. “It is fast. It is reliable. It saves lives.”