UN launches largest ever humanitarian appeal at US20.1 billion

GENEVA 8th December 2015 (WAM) -- Warning that global suffering has reached levels not seen in a generation the United Nations and its partners have launched their largest ever humanitarian appeal calling for 20.1 billion 'life-saving Dollars' for 2016 even as the 2015 appeal posts the largest funding gap on record $10.2 billion.

"Conflicts and disasters have driven millions of children women and men to the edge of survival. They desperately need our help" Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien said as he launched the Global Humanitarian Overview 2016 in Geneva calling the outlook for next year 'grim'.

The amount of the appeal five times that of a decade ago even tops the revised total appeal for 2015 of $19.9 billion for which international donors have provided only $9.7 billion just 49 percent. The new appeal seeks to deliver life-saving aid to over 87.6 million people across 37 countries most of which are in conflict.

The "brutal extended" conflicts in Syria Iraq South Sudan and Yemen will remain among the greatest drivers of prolonged humanitarian needs in 2016 fuelling new displacement within countries and across borders the appeal said.

Worldwide the number of people forced to flee their homes has already reached 60 million a level previously unknown in the post-World War II era half of them children.

"UN agencies and our partners are committed to do everything we can to respond quickly and effectively to the urgent needs of affected people families and communities" said Mr. O'Brien who heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA. "They count on us all today for their tomorrow. I urge the international community to respond generously again to our call for funding to allow us to do the job."

The appeal is the culmination of a global effort in which hundreds of organisations delivering food shelter medicine protection emergency education and other basic assistance to people in conflict and disaster-affected regions come together to assess needs decide response strategies and present their plans to donors.

"Mass movement of people be it refugees or people fleeing within their own countries has become the new defining reality of the 21st century" UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told the launching ceremony.

UN World Health Organisation WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan stressed the disastrous effects conflict and natural disasters are having on global health.

"The number of people now affected by conflicts and other crises is unprecedented with an unprecedented impact on their health" she said. "WHO and its partners are committed to ensuring that everyone especially women and children get the health care they desperately need. But we urgently require more funding in order to do so."

In a foreword to the appeal Mr. O'Brien gave an overview of the conflicts wracking the world from Syria and Yemen to Ukraine and Nigeria.

The appeal's Executive Summary stressed that addressing underfunding requires a range of measures including adjusting the approach to protracted crises and disasters leveraging diverse funding sources using the right mix of financial instruments for each situation and investing more in preparedness.