Record $22.2bn required for UN aid
Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen need a third of the total
The United Nations needs a record US$22.2 billion ( Dh81.5bn) for humanitarian relief projects next year, covering the needs of 93 million people in 33 countries, said Stephen O’Brien, the body’s humanitarian chief.
It’s “the highest amount we have ever requested”, Mr O’Brien said yesterday, emphasising that 80 per cent of the needs stemmed from war, such as those in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria and South Sudan.
“This is the reflection of a state of human needs in the world not witnessed since the Second World War.” The global appeal by UN agencies and other humanitarian organisations aims to gather funds to help the 92.8 million most vulnerable of the nearly 129 million people expected to require assistance next year.
Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan account for about a third of the needs. The amount appealed for is more than the $20.1bn requested for this year, a period when “humanitarian actors have saved, protected and supported more people than in any previous year since the founding of the United Nations”, Mr O’Brien said. In the end, the UN broadened its appeal for this year to $22.1bn. Donors gave $11.4bn for aid projects this year.
“With persistently escalating humanitarian needs, the gap between what has to be done to save and protect more people today and what humanitarians are financed to do and can access is growing ever wider,” Mr O’Brien said.
Making matters worse, “with climate change, natural disasters are likely to become more frequent, more severe”.
Aid needs have been rising steadily for decades. When the UN launched its first global appeal in 1992, it estimated that $2.7bn would be required around the globe.
But the situation has worsened dramatically in the last few years.
Globally, “humanitarian needs continue to rise and humanitarian efforts are hampered by reduced access, growing disrespect for human rights and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law”, Mr O’Brien said.
The report highlighted “severely constrained” humanitarian access in places such as Syria, Yemen, Iraq and South Sudan, which is “leaving affected people without basic services and protection”.