São Paulo – The United Nations (UN) released on Friday (14) in Rome, a request for US$ 8.5 billion in donations for 2013 so that the institution may continue providing humanitarian aid to victims of natural disasters. The UN estimates the total number of people who depend on donations to survive at 51 million.
The appeal was made by the United Nations (UN), its 520 agencies and non-governmental partner organisations through the Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP), which is the main United Nations (UN) tool to plan, coordinate and finance humanitarian actions.
The UN undersecretary general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, stated that the UN called for US$ 7.7 billion in donations in 2012, but 40% of the funds did not arrive. “This means that people in need in some parts of the world have not been able to get the help they would have had we got the money.” She also stated that it is still early to say how much the international crisis may affect donations and said that the aid may come from anyone: people, companies and governments.
The funds will be used to provide water, food, housing, basic needs and health care for vulnerable people in the occupied territories of Palestine and in 15 countries, namely Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, the Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
In Yemen, said Amos, one million children are undernourished. In Niger, in turn, the shortage of food reaches 1.7 million people while in South Sudan there are 500,000 homeless and two million people who cannot feed themselves. She also stated that the conflicts in Darfur, in western Sudan, and the recent fighting in Mali and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are expanding the consequences of the humanitarian crisis in these nations.
Amos also stated that on December 19th the UN should make a special appeal for donations among the countries of the Middle East, in which domestic conflict “has spawned massive humanitarian needs". She also said that the call for help to the victims in Syria has already totalled US$ 348 million.
"These needs are real; they can be seen by anyone; we recognize the difficulties that many countries face with respect to the ongoing situation, but, at the same time, we are talking about people who are extraordinarily vulnerable around the world,” said Amos, regarding the need to donations.
*Translated by Mark Ament
