UN seeks $7.7 billion in funding for humanitarian assistance in 2012

[News_Editor]

UN seeks $7.7 billion in funding for humanitarian assistance in 2012

2011-12-15 20:02:31 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations (UN) is seeking at least $7.7 billion in funding to provide humanitarian assistance around the world in 2012, the largest appeal since the creation of the Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP) in 1991.

The humanitarian aid is estimated to assist around 51 million people in 16 different countries over the course of next year. UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said the continued support of people and governments around the world to help those desperately in need is urgent.

Amos, who is also the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, spoke at the launch of the appeal in Geneva on Wednesday, stating that millions of people will be affected by emergencies caused or worsened by the impact of climate change, insecurity over food and water, economic and political crises, migration, urbanization and rapid population growth.

"Millions need our help," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a year-end press conference in New York, referring to Wednesday's appeal. "Economic times are hard. But we cannot balance budgets with the lives of the world's poorest and most vulnerable."

The appeal includes assistance for people in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Haiti, Kenya, Niger, the occupied Palestinian territory, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen and Zimbabwe.

Amos noted that the appeals with significant increases when compared to 2011 are from Somalia, Yemen, Djibouti, the Mindanao situation in the Philippines and South Sudan, which did not exist as a country before 2011. Somalia requires at least $500 million more next year.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa - Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia - remains the largest in the world, she noted. Four million people need urgent humanitarian aid in Somalia alone, and close to 600,000 refugees have sought protection in Kenya.

The $2.4 billion in aid the UN requested in 2011 for these four countries has been funded for 78 percent. However, total requirements for the Horn of Africa will be 20 percent higher in 2012 than for 2011.

In addition, the appeal is also seeking $763 million to help people in the world's newest nation, South Sudan; $718 million for the DRC; $455 million for Chad; $437 million for Afghanistan; $416 million for the occupied Palestinian territory; and $230 million for Haiti, among other countries.

Last year, the UN and its partners sought more than $7.4 billion to help 50 million people suffering from the effects of conflicts and natural disasters in 28 countries, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-12-15

[koheesti]

I wonder if anyone audits these funds? Not that I don't trust the UN bureaucrats in 3rd world countries.