New York, March 6(Darfur24)
The United Nations announced today, Thursday, the allocation of $110 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to enhance life-saving assistance in ten of the most neglected and underfunded crises.
Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said in a statement that the allocation of the emergency fund quickly directs resources to where they are most needed, indicating that the brutal cuts in funding do not mean the disappearance of humanitarian needs in countries affected by conflict, climate change and economic turmoil.
The statement confirmed that a third of the new funding will be earmarked to the Central Emergency Response Fund in Sudan, which is suffering from violence, displacement and hunger, in addition to neighboring Chad, to which many have fled.
The funds will also enhance the humanitarian response in “Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Honduras, Mauritania, Niger, Somalia, Venezuela and Zambia.”
The funds will support life-saving initiatives to protect vulnerable people from climate shocks, he said.
The humanitarian community is seeking nearly $45 billion to help 185 million of the world’s most vulnerable people caught up in crises around the world, the statement said.
More than 300 million people worldwide need urgent humanitarian assistance, but funding is declining every year, with levels expected to fall to an all-time low this year.