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32129
Tue, 11/25/2008 - 14:12
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http://m.oananews.org//node/32129
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UN High Commissioner for Refugees lauds UAE's humanitarian initiatives
Abu Dhabi Nov 25, 2008 (WAM) - The fact that "The 2009 Humanitarian Appeal is being launched in Abu Dhabi yesterday gives recognition to the long tradition of generosity of the UAE and countries of this region towards international humanitarian relief efforts," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees today.
"The deep-rooted culture of charity and philanthropy is evidenced by the numerous local NGOs and Foundations based here. Examples of the good work being carried out by the UAE Red Crescent Authority (including the Sheikha Fatima Fund for Refugee Women and Children), the Zayed Foundation, and Dubai Cares, to name a few, can be easily found around the world." The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said at the official launch of the United Nations 2009 Humanitarian Appeal in Abu Dhabi, at a joint press conference in the presence of HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and President of the UAE Red Crescent Authority (RCA).
Guterres lauded the UAE for also taking "large steps towards developing a more coordinated approach to their assistance. Earlier this year, under the auspices of HH Sheikh Hamdan, we saw the establishment of the UAE Aid Coordination Office, which will contribute towards focusing humanitarian aid in a more effective way." "And it is in the name of co-ordinated assistance towards those in need that we are here today. At this moment, millions of people across the world are experiencing insecurity as their daily reality; war and natural disasters threaten their existence. They do not have access to the essentials in life, including clean water, health care and shelter. Given the sheer scale of the task ahead, it is clear that no single organisation, government or donor can tackle it alone." He expressed full recognition of the challenges of the current world financial environment and its impact on national budgets.
He cited Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's foreword to the Appeal as saying "the global financial crisis has raised inevitable concerns that there could be a decline in humanitarian funding for 2009." Following are excerpts from statement at the Launch of the United Nations 2009 Humanitarian Appeal: "The 2009 Humanitarian Appeal that we are launching here today is the product of the joint efforts of 360 aid organizations (including United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and other international organizations) to meet the world's major humanitarian challenges in a strategic and effective way.
It invites us to join forces and extend our hands to those who need it.
In seeking a response to the urgent call of 30 million people across 31 countries who are in need of immediate and life saving assistance, the Consolidated Appeal is more than a plea for money. It is a tool designed to help aid organisations to avoid costly gaps and duplication that occur when they operate in isolation." For donors, the Humanitarian Appeal helps to direct their funds where they are most needed. It provides a 'menu' of humanitarian activities and their funding requirements in each country, provides an overview of the most severe crises and allows them to make well-informed decisions about where to direct their assistance.
And the needs are larger than ever. In many parts of the world, we are witnessing a multiplicity of adverse trends. Large-scale conflict and insecurity have continued in Somalia, Sudan's Darfur region, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka.
Conflict also continues to disrupt the livelihoods, health and safety of millions of people in the occupied Palestinian territory, Iraq, and Central African Republic. Post-conflict recovery in Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, southern Sudan, and Nepal remains fragile. In parts of West Africa and in Zimbabwe, extreme vulnerability, compounded by governance issues, has caused major humanitarian need.
Nature's wrath has been no less harsh. Floods, hurricanes and cyclones, earthquakes, and drought struck regularly this year. In May, Cyclone Nargis swept across Myanmar in May killing over 140,000 people in the Ayeyarwady Delta and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless in its wake. Just ten days later, large parts of Sichuan province in China were devastated by a major earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale. The fact that so many of today's disasters are climate-related - as evidenced for example, by nine out of the eleven flash appeals this year - shows again the serious implications of climate change for humanitarian capacity and funding in the future.
2008 also witnessed a dramatic explosion in global food prices, affecting millions of poor households around the globe. And while the visible effects of the crisis this year were on food insecurity and nutritional status, its longer-term effects are more insidious, and manifest themselves in other ways: for example, a poor urban household that now has to spend twice as much on food will have less to spend on education or medicine.
How will the global food crisis affect the humanitarian system and its appeal process? Even if some global commodity prices have fallen, this has not yet been reflected in local price levels in many poor countries. Food aid requirements will continue to be high in dollar terms in 2009 and beyond; and because of these secondary effects across sectors, other needs are likely to go up along with it.
The humanitarian system offers a partial remedy for increased food aid needs: agricultural recovery. However, the agriculture sector is only 39% funded in this year's consolidated and flash appeals. Indeed, the agriculture sector in appeals has never been better than 50% funded in any year going back to 2000. Having said that, I am glad to say that the heavy funding for the food sector's increased requirements this year does not seem to have diverted funds from other sectors, which are generally better funded in dollar and percentage terms in 2008 than at this point in previous years.
Nonetheless, there is continuing concern that high food needs may intensify competition for funds. This year we have seen a series of special appeals in response to deepening food insecurity, in which effects of price rises are often exacerbated by adverse weather, poor harvests and in some cases conflict. Ethiopia and Afghanistan are major cases in point. Although these appeals are not currently counted as CAPs, we are steering them to follow best practice of the consolidated appeal process, in that they should be inter-agency, multi-sectoral, strategic and prioritized.
He stressed that triple threat of continued conflict and insecurity, climate change, and the global food crisis add up to increasing needs.
It therefore does not come as a surprise that this is the largest Humanitarian Appeal ever launched." At the same time, he pointed out, the resources that we are asking for to help 30 million people in 31 countries around the world living in severe and ongoing humanitarian crises are very modest indeed - less than one hundredth - when compared for instance to the sums being spent to bring stability to the international financial system.
"It would be tragic if the funds available to the humanitarian community were to decline at the very time when the demands made are increasing so dramatically. We simply cannot afford for this to happen."
"The deep-rooted culture of charity and philanthropy is evidenced by the numerous local NGOs and Foundations based here. Examples of the good work being carried out by the UAE Red Crescent Authority (including the Sheikha Fatima Fund for Refugee Women and Children), the Zayed Foundation, and Dubai Cares, to name a few, can be easily found around the world." The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said at the official launch of the United Nations 2009 Humanitarian Appeal in Abu Dhabi, at a joint press conference in the presence of HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and President of the UAE Red Crescent Authority (RCA).
Guterres lauded the UAE for also taking "large steps towards developing a more coordinated approach to their assistance. Earlier this year, under the auspices of HH Sheikh Hamdan, we saw the establishment of the UAE Aid Coordination Office, which will contribute towards focusing humanitarian aid in a more effective way." "And it is in the name of co-ordinated assistance towards those in need that we are here today. At this moment, millions of people across the world are experiencing insecurity as their daily reality; war and natural disasters threaten their existence. They do not have access to the essentials in life, including clean water, health care and shelter. Given the sheer scale of the task ahead, it is clear that no single organisation, government or donor can tackle it alone." He expressed full recognition of the challenges of the current world financial environment and its impact on national budgets.
He cited Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's foreword to the Appeal as saying "the global financial crisis has raised inevitable concerns that there could be a decline in humanitarian funding for 2009." Following are excerpts from statement at the Launch of the United Nations 2009 Humanitarian Appeal: "The 2009 Humanitarian Appeal that we are launching here today is the product of the joint efforts of 360 aid organizations (including United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and other international organizations) to meet the world's major humanitarian challenges in a strategic and effective way.
It invites us to join forces and extend our hands to those who need it.
In seeking a response to the urgent call of 30 million people across 31 countries who are in need of immediate and life saving assistance, the Consolidated Appeal is more than a plea for money. It is a tool designed to help aid organisations to avoid costly gaps and duplication that occur when they operate in isolation." For donors, the Humanitarian Appeal helps to direct their funds where they are most needed. It provides a 'menu' of humanitarian activities and their funding requirements in each country, provides an overview of the most severe crises and allows them to make well-informed decisions about where to direct their assistance.
And the needs are larger than ever. In many parts of the world, we are witnessing a multiplicity of adverse trends. Large-scale conflict and insecurity have continued in Somalia, Sudan's Darfur region, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka.
Conflict also continues to disrupt the livelihoods, health and safety of millions of people in the occupied Palestinian territory, Iraq, and Central African Republic. Post-conflict recovery in Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, southern Sudan, and Nepal remains fragile. In parts of West Africa and in Zimbabwe, extreme vulnerability, compounded by governance issues, has caused major humanitarian need.
Nature's wrath has been no less harsh. Floods, hurricanes and cyclones, earthquakes, and drought struck regularly this year. In May, Cyclone Nargis swept across Myanmar in May killing over 140,000 people in the Ayeyarwady Delta and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless in its wake. Just ten days later, large parts of Sichuan province in China were devastated by a major earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale. The fact that so many of today's disasters are climate-related - as evidenced for example, by nine out of the eleven flash appeals this year - shows again the serious implications of climate change for humanitarian capacity and funding in the future.
2008 also witnessed a dramatic explosion in global food prices, affecting millions of poor households around the globe. And while the visible effects of the crisis this year were on food insecurity and nutritional status, its longer-term effects are more insidious, and manifest themselves in other ways: for example, a poor urban household that now has to spend twice as much on food will have less to spend on education or medicine.
How will the global food crisis affect the humanitarian system and its appeal process? Even if some global commodity prices have fallen, this has not yet been reflected in local price levels in many poor countries. Food aid requirements will continue to be high in dollar terms in 2009 and beyond; and because of these secondary effects across sectors, other needs are likely to go up along with it.
The humanitarian system offers a partial remedy for increased food aid needs: agricultural recovery. However, the agriculture sector is only 39% funded in this year's consolidated and flash appeals. Indeed, the agriculture sector in appeals has never been better than 50% funded in any year going back to 2000. Having said that, I am glad to say that the heavy funding for the food sector's increased requirements this year does not seem to have diverted funds from other sectors, which are generally better funded in dollar and percentage terms in 2008 than at this point in previous years.
Nonetheless, there is continuing concern that high food needs may intensify competition for funds. This year we have seen a series of special appeals in response to deepening food insecurity, in which effects of price rises are often exacerbated by adverse weather, poor harvests and in some cases conflict. Ethiopia and Afghanistan are major cases in point. Although these appeals are not currently counted as CAPs, we are steering them to follow best practice of the consolidated appeal process, in that they should be inter-agency, multi-sectoral, strategic and prioritized.
He stressed that triple threat of continued conflict and insecurity, climate change, and the global food crisis add up to increasing needs.
It therefore does not come as a surprise that this is the largest Humanitarian Appeal ever launched." At the same time, he pointed out, the resources that we are asking for to help 30 million people in 31 countries around the world living in severe and ongoing humanitarian crises are very modest indeed - less than one hundredth - when compared for instance to the sums being spent to bring stability to the international financial system.
"It would be tragic if the funds available to the humanitarian community were to decline at the very time when the demands made are increasing so dramatically. We simply cannot afford for this to happen."
