The United Nations on Friday released 100 million dollars (just over 90 million euros) from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to boost humanitarian operations in ten countries in Africa, America, Asia and the Middle East, to reinforce humanitarian operations in some of the most critical humanitarian hotspots in the world.
The measure, taken by the Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Joyce Msuya, was motivated by “insufficient humanitarian funding” and to “save lives”, taking into account that the CERF injection is an option of “last resort”.
“In too many humanitarian emergencies, a lack of funding prevents aid agencies from reaching people in need of life-saving assistance, and this is heartbreaking,” said the UN chief, stressing the “urgent” need for “greater and sustained donor attention to these underfunded crises.”
Yemen and Ethiopia will receive more than a third of the funding, with 18 and 13.5 million euros respectively, to address the “combined impact of hunger, displacement, disease and climate disasters.”
Following behind are countries “in conflict and affected by the climate”: Burma (around eleven million euros), Mali (barely ten million), Burkina Faso (nine million), Haiti (just over eight million), as well as Cameroon and Mozambique (both, more than six million).
Finally, the United Nations will allocate five million euros to Burundi and four million to Malawi to support efforts to combat drought and flooding caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon, seeking to promote “climate-smart humanitarian action.”
This is the second CERF allocation for underfunded emergencies this year, after the agency released another €90 million to seven countries in February.
The agency noted that the total amount of this funding is the lowest in three years, “underlining the growing gap between humanitarian needs and the donor funding that CERF receives to meet them.”
The humanitarian community is seeking more than €44 billion to help 187 million of the most vulnerable people in crisis around the world. So far, only 29 percent of this funding has been received, leaving a gap of €31.6 billion.