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UN:
UN SEEKS $3.8 BILLION FOR HUMANITARIAN EMERGENCIES IN 24 COUNTRIES:
10/12/2007 (MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network /
- 10 December 2007 --
The United Nations today appealed for $3.8
billion dollars. Speaking at the launch of the Humanitarian Appeal 2008 this
morning in Geneva, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said that “many humanitarian crises
involving conflict continue, in Somalia, Sudan, the occupied Palestinian
territory, and the DRC to name just a few – and people living in such extreme
circumstances will need continued generosity in 2008.
“Floods,
hurricanes, cyclones, and drought also struck more frequently in 2007, and this
trend points to a future where aid agencies, and the world’s vulnerable poor,
will have to respond ever more frequently to climate-related disasters,” he
added.
The
Appeal is made up of ten consolidated appeals for the Central African Republic
(CAR), Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, the DRC, the occupied Palestinian territory,
Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, the West African region and Zimbabwe.
Some 188
organizations – including UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
and other international organizations – come together through the Appeal to
meet the world’s major humanitarian challenges in a strategic, coordinated,
effective and prioritized way.
Mr.
Holmes urged generosity among donors, noting that “although we know that
legislators face many competing priorities, we are asking for merely a few cents
of humanitarian aid for every hundred dollars of national income.”
Also
present at today’s launch were UN High Commissioner for Refugees António
Guterres; Secretary-General of CARE International, Robert Glasser; and Founder
and Chairman of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson.
Citing
some examples from the current year, he highlighted the important humanitarian
work being done with the funds provided by these appeals, including the
provision of safe water and sanitation to over 450,000 people in Somalia, as
well as emergency job creation and cash assistance to 130,000 families in the
occupied Palestinian territory.
He noted
that the 2008 Appeal does not account for the full amount of the funds required
for the year, and that two or three additional appeals were expected to be
launched in the coming weeks and months, including for Timor-Leste, Sri Lanka
and Iraq.
Nor does
the consolidated appeal include the so-called “flash appeals,” which arise
from individual natural disasters. “This year we issued 15 flash appeals,
which is five more than in any previous year for natural disasters. We really
see a very clear relationship between climate change and that number of appeals.
Fourteen of the natural disasters are extreme weather related.”
Also
present at today’s launch were UN High Commissioner for Refugees António
Guterres; Secretary-General of CARE International, Robert Glasser; and Founder
and Chairman of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson.
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
~~~~~
MaximsNews.com, An Independent Voice from the
U.N., provides commentary and analysis from
leading world figures: King Abdullah II
(Jordan), HRH Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein
(Jordan), Sir Brian Urquhart, Hans Blix, Amb.
Richard Holbrooke, Anwar Ibrahim, Bianca Jagger,
Dr. Nafis Sadik, Shashi Tharoor, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Noeleen Heyzer,
Masood Haider, Kerry
Kennedy, Ian Williams, Stephen Schlesinger, Sen.
Timothy E. Wirth, Marc Morial, Amb. Jayantha
Dhanapala (Sri Lanka), Amb. Pierre Schori
(Sweden), Amb. William H. Luers, Susan Roosevelt
Weld, Rory Kennedy, Mehri
Madarshahi, J. Michael Adams, Gloria Feldt,
Jeffrey Laurenti, Rodney D. Smith, Ashley
Bommer, Rory
O'Connor, Genevieve Stamper, Max Stamper and
others.
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