UN allocates $100 million to victims of ‘forgotten emergencies’

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is releasing $100 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help millions of people in what it calls “neglected emergencies”.

OCHA reports that money for 11 humanitarian operations in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East has run out, putting the lives and livelihoods of millions at risk.

The United Nations argues that it needs $49.5 billion this year to help 204 million people threatened by conflict, climate criseshunger and forced displacement.

To date, only $17.6 billion of this total amount has been received. While this is a large amount of money, OCHA deputy spokesman Jens Laerke said the funding gap is nearly $32 billion, the largest it has ever been.

Laerke maintained that the release of this $100 million is intended to bridge this critical funding gap and tackle the problem head-on.

“It may seem like a drop in the ocean and if you look at it from that perspective, it’s a drop in the ocean,” he said. “But for CERF funds, a key criteria is that it has to go to projects that save lives. So it’s the worst of the worst that we’re trying to address with CERF funding. And I guarantee you, for those whose lives hang in the balance, it means something.”

Laerke said the consequences for hundreds of millions of vulnerable people will be many and very serious, if money is not received to help them in their time of greatest need.

“That can range from loss of life to victims or survivors of gender-based violence who are not supported,” she said. “Children not getting the shots they need and so on.”

Laerke said the $100 million will help expand rescue operations in the 11 countries, which include Yemen, South Sudan, Myanmar and Venezuela.

He noted that CERF has allocated a record $250 million so far this year to countries that are in dire straits but are largely overlooked.

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