UN allocates $100 million fund for vulnerable people in 9 neglected crises

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Sunday 31 Jan 2016 - 11:53 Makkah mean time-21-4-1437 UN Photo New York (IINA) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday released $100 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for severely underfunded aid operations in nine neglected emergencies. The funds will enable life-saving help for millions of people forced from their homes in Central and Eastern Africa, those affected by conflict and food insecurity in Libya and Mali, and the most vulnerable and at risk of malnutrition in North Korea. “I am allocating $100 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to meet critical humanitarian needs in nine underfunded emergencies,” said Ban in a press statement. According to the United Nations, CERF pools donor contributions into a single fund so money is available to start or continue urgent relief work anywhere in the world at the onset of emergencies and for crises that have not attracted sufficient funding. CERF allocated $64 million to allow humanitarian partners to respond to the displacement crises in Central and Eastern Africa caused by conflict and violence in South Sudan, Burundi and Congo. Urgently needed funds will help an estimated 1.7 million refugees, internally displaced people and host communities in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. It also allocated $28 million to help relief agencies address the humanitarian needs of up to 350,000 people affected by conflict and food insecurity in Libya and in Mali, where an estimated 300,000 people will be assisted. CERF further allocated $8 million to support urgent life-saving humanitarian assistance for more than 2.2 million vulnerable people in North Korea, including 1.8 million children who need urgent nutrition assistance. According to UN News Center, 125 UN member states and observers, private-sector donors and regional governments have supported the Fund since 2006. CERF has allocated almost $4.2 billion for humanitarian operations in 94 countries and territories so far. AB/IINA