MaximsNewsNetwork: 21 July 2009 - UNTV: OCHA: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the overall humanitarian funding appeals for 2009 are short by $4.8 billion six months into the year. OCHA says the total target for the humanitarian appeals now stands at $9.5 billion.
John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefed journalists this afternoon in Geneva following a mid-year review conference with Member States on the status of the 2009 consolidated humanitarian appeals.
Holmes said that the mid-year reviews showed that funding for the 2009 humanitarian appeals was the best ever, both in absolute terms and in terms of requirements. Out of $9.5 billion requested they had already received $4.6 billion, or 49 per cent of needs. That was particularly noteworthy given the global economic and financial crisis. However, at the same time, the overall requirements were the highest at mid-year and the needs were the highest mid-year that they had ever had.
SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, United nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief:
"Out of the overall requirements, the revised requirements in mid-year, that is, the target for the year of $9.5 billion we have already received $4.6 billion or 49 per cent of what we believe we need. That is the best ever result we've had at mid year and particularly, I think, noteworthy because of the economic and financial crisis that we're all going through. At the same time those overall requirements are the highest ever at mid-year, and that means the needs still to be funded at around $4.84 billion are also the highest we've ever had."
Holmes observed that there were more people in need at the moment, and more crises, therefore more funding was needed. Last year there had been no crisis in Sri Lanka, no new appeal for Palestine and no crisis in Pakistan. This year they were helping 43 million, a substantial increase over last year, when the appeals covered assistance to 28 million.
It was also unfortunately the case that the costs of providing assistance were high because, despite reductions in food and fuel costs, those were still very costly in local markets. It was also the case that the global crisis itself was having an affect on people, coupled with the effects of climate change, such as droughts, on agricultural production. That was why the appeals had gone up over the course of the year by $1.5 billion or approximately 19 per cent.
SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, United nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief:
"The main contributing countries have stuck to their promises which was to maintain their aid budgets, both development and humanitarian budgets despite the recession, and they have certainly done that so far this year, and I very much hope it continues. The good results for the Consolidated Appeals may also reflect that there have been relatively few Flash Appeals, few sudden natural onset disasters, which would have otherwise consumed budgets in different ways.
Yesterday, militants occupied and looted two UN compounds in Baidoa and Wajid in Somalia, bringing operations to a halt. On the information that the United Nations had to stop its operations in south-east Somalia, Mr. Holmes said that they had obviously had to stop operations in Baidoa where United Nations facilities had been attacked. However, they were not backing away from Somalia more widely and they planned to continue despite those difficulties, which were not new.
SOUNDBITE (English) John Holmes, United nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief:
"On the situation in Somalia, we've had to obviously stop operations in Baidoa where the compound was attacked and looted yesterday. We simply cannot continue there until we can replace that equipment. We're not backing away from Somalia more widely, and we hope to be able to continue operations despite the difficulties. These difficulties are not new, for example the UNICEF compound in Jowhar further north in South Central Somalia, was attacked and looted not so long ago. WPF deal with attacks on convoys, attacks on ships from pirates. We've had many killings and abductions, many threats, but we've continued to operate."
It was too soon to say how the United Nations would react to the latest threats; that would have to be assessed on a continuous basis.
MaximsNewsNetwork: News Network for the United Nations and the International Community. See: http://www.MaximsNews.com. "GIVING POWER & RESONANCE TO THE VOICE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY"
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Presentation at UN OCHA +5 Symposiumby yajitha377 views
Love Holmes!!!Good work!!!
entender2000 2 years ago