New York: Europe and the Arabs
The United Nations announced the allocation of $100 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to address the critical funding shortfall for humanitarian emergencies in 10 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East, including Yemen. According to the UN daily news bulletin, a copy of which we received at dawn today, Saturday
The Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Joyce Msuya, confirmed that in many humanitarian emergencies, the lack of funding prevents relief agencies from reaching people in need of life-saving assistance, "and this is heartbreaking." She added: "The funding provided by the Central Emergency Response Fund is an emergency cash injection as a last resort to avoid the worst and save lives when other humanitarian funding is insufficient. We urgently need increased and continued donor attention to these underfunded crises." More than a third of this new funding from the fund managed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs will support relief operations in Yemen ($20 million) and Ethiopia ($15 million), where people are suffering from the combined impact of hunger, displacement, disease and climate disasters.
The new funding package will also support humanitarian operations in countries experiencing years of conflict and displacement, exacerbated by climate shocks and stresses, including Myanmar ($12 million), Mali ($11 million), Burkina Faso ($10 million), Haiti ($9 million), Cameroon ($7 million) and Mozambique ($7 million).
Countries responding to drought and flooding caused by El Niño, such as Burundi ($5 million) and Malawi ($4 million), are also included.
A growing gap
Recognizing that climate change is a major driver of humanitarian needs, part of this allocation will boost climate-smart humanitarian action supported by the Central Emergency Response Fund’s Climate Action Account.
This is the second allocation from the Fund for underfunded emergencies this year, following the allocation of US$100 million in February to seven countries including Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras, Lebanon, Niger, Sudan and Syria. However, the total amount disbursed this year for underfunded humanitarian crises is the lowest in the past three years, OCHA said, underscoring the growing gap between humanitarian needs and the funding the Fund receives from donors to meet them.