UN chief urges emergency fund support as one of the ‘most effective investments’ in humanitarian action

The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), is “one of the most effective investments you can make in humanitarian action”, Secretary-General, António Guterres told a high-level pledging event at UN Headquarters in New York.

“It is the only global emergency fund that is fast, predictable and flexible enough to reach tens of millions of people each year”, according to the UN chief, who maintained that the fund supports a “well-coordinated global humanitarian response system with an enormous network of partners to help the most vulnerable”.

Since its creation 13 years ago, the fund has allocated over $6 billion to support life-saving assistance in 104 countries, protecting millions of people, sometimes within hours of the onset of an emergency.

Mr. Guterres described it as “one of the key instruments we have” to bring the system together and act in a coordinated way in the humanitarian field.

“To invest in the CERF is not only to invest in humanitarian action, it’s to invest in making the UN better as a whole”, he asserted.

Noting that the climate crisis is causing more frequent and deadly hurricanes, cyclones and droughts around the world, the UN chief spelled out:

“CERF is on the frontline of our response. The pace of crises has been relentless in 2019”, said Mr. Guterres, noting that CERF had supported people in 44 countries, “from Yemen to Afghanistan to Colombia”.

This year, CERF prioritized 350,000 people with disabilities around the world with funding. In 2019, it allocated $214 million to advance gender equality, informing that in Cameroon, CERF provided equipment and drugs for reproductive health, psycho-social support, and community awareness sessions on gender-based violence.

With a pledge to make CERF “faster, more efficient, more innovative, and more responsive”, the UN chief closed by urging States to meet their General Assembly commitment to raise $1 billion for the fund.

Original source: UN News
Published on 09 December 2019