UN agencies facing US $2.25 billion shortfall

UN agencies, whose work benefit an estimated 50 million people worldwide, need US $2.25 billion until the end of 2004 to implement their programmes, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Tuesday.

"The response [from donors] so far is too little too late for millions of victims in forgotten emergencies," Jan Egeland, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said in a statement issued in New York and Geneva.

He added that timely and increased funding was essential for an effective response to the requirements of millions of people affected by 25 crises in Africa, Europe and Asia.

OCHA reported that at the launch of the Consolidated Humanitarian Appeals (CAP) in November 2004, humanitarian agencies and their NGO partners had appealed for $2.95 billion to reach vulnerable populations around the world in 2004. However, so far, only $696.8 million had been received, it added.

It said that despite generous contributions from donors, the financing of humanitarian aid remained inadequate and unpredictable for aid agencies.

OCHA manages the CAP, a UN-led mechanism created a decade ago by the UN General Assembly to ensure strategic and coordinated humanitarian response to crises. Through the CAP, the international humanitarian community seeks to support governments in fulfilling their responsibility to assist and protect people in need.

"One-hundred sixty-eight humanitarian organisations are working together to provide protection and assistance and their joint programmes are currently only 23.6 percent funded," OCHA said. "This is much lower than at the same time in both 2003 and 2002, when humanitarian programmes were funded at approximately 33 percent."

OCHA said that six months after the CAP launch, the mid-year review detailing the funding response shows the measures that have been taken to strengthen humanitarian action and to ensure that people in need received the best protection and help.

"Prompt and equitable funding is needed," OCHA said.

It added that the percentage of requirements funded in the 2004 CAP ranges from 49.5 percent to 1.7 percent. The lowest responses have been for Burundi with 14.9 percent, Sudan 14.9 percent, Zimbabwe 12.8 percent, Guinea 10.2 percent, Sierra Leone 9.9 percent, Côte d'Ivoire 6.3 percent, Indonesia 2.2 percent and Madagascar 1.7 per cent.