More than 40 countries pledge $384 million to UN fund for humanitarian emergencies

By Edith M. Lederer

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

More than 40 countries pledged $384 million Tuesday to a United Nations fund that provides immediate money to respond to humanitarian emergencies around the world, from the conflict in Syria to earthquakes and typhoons.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 22 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Finland, Sweden and Turkey, increased their pledges for 2013.

The $384 million was a $9 million increase from last year’s level. The U.N. Central Emergency Response Fund, known as CERF, has an annual funding target of US$450 million.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said contributions to the fund stop “crises from turning into catastrophes.”

He told donors he just returned from visiting refugee camps in Jordan and Turkey for Syrians traumatized by the conflict where the U.N. is providing schools, shelter and supplies.

These can’t replace “the sense of security that only a political solution can provide,” Ban said, but the U.N. can give children a measure of normalcy by providing them with pencils, paper, food and medicine.

CERF was revamped by the U.N. General Assembly in December 2005 after world leaders decided to make up to $500 million available annually so the U.N. can act speedily to help people caught in conflicts, natural disasters and other emergencies instead of waiting for donors to respond to appeals for aid.

The U.N. said that since 2006, CERF has enabled immediate help for millions of people in some 87 countries and territories.

In 2012, CERF allocated more than $460 million to U.N. agencies and humanitarian partners to provide aid in nearly 50 countries including Syria, Pakistan, South Sudan, Haiti and Niger as well as to underfunded crises in North Korea, Haiti and Pakistan, the U.N. said.

More than $110 million was allocated to help address food insecurity, natural disasters, conflict, displacement and other emergencies in eight West African countries across the Sahel region, it said.

U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told donors that “CERF’s support has been critical to saving the lives and livelihoods of millions of people throughout the world.”

17:36ET 11-12-12