Invest in humanitarian relief, limit ‘catastrophic’ impact
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) heard strong appeals for more funds to be steered into the United Nations’ (UN) COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan, as it opened its annual Humanitarian Affairs Segment — the first to be held via video-teleconference.
“Even before COVID-19, the world faced unprecedented levels of humanitarian suffering. Now the virus threats to increase hunger and poverty — and reverse decades of development gains,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.
“We all need to stand in solidarity with those least able to protect themselves from the virus,” he said. “This is not only the right thing to do — it is also the only way we can overcome the challenge.”
UN relief chief and emergency coordinator
Mark Lowcock said that the Response Plan — the international community’s primary fundraising vehicle to respond to the impact of the coronavirus in low and middle-income countries — needs $6.7 billion to cover the period until December.
But so far, at almost $1.2 billion, it is only 17.4 percent funded, he added.
“Investing now will reduce the scale of the problem and avoid a much more costly response in the years to come,” Lowcock stated.
Over three days, the Humanitarian Affairs Segment will tackle a host of emerging and pressing humanitarian issues as the United Nations marks its seventy-fifth anniversary this year.
Topics on the agenda range from the situation in the vast Sahel region, to sexual and gender-based violence, assistance for internally displaced persons and addressing the growing complexity of health challenges in humanitarian contexts.
Participants — including Member States, the UN system, development actors, the private sector and other partners — will also discuss ways in which new technology and innovation can make humanitarian work more effective.
Warning that the pandemic “has the potential to be catastrophic in the developing world,” Lowcock said that the cost of protecting the most vulnerable 10 percent of people in the world’s poorest countries, is about $90 billion.