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Humanitarian Funding Review: Remarks by John Holmes UN Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator

Attachments

18 May 2010
Geneva

Opening Remarks

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. Colleagues,

I am extremely pleased that you are able to join us this afternoon as we take advantage of the presence of our HCs here today - Martin Mogwanja from Pakistan, Mark Bowden from Somalia; Robert Piper from Nepal; and Anthony Ohemeng-Boamah from Guinea/West Africa - to take stock of the funding for the appeals thus far in 2010 and to note any significant funding trends, before we go on to the HC retreat in Montreux starting tomorrow.

This is an opportunity for us to provide Member States and those of you in the donor community with a snapshot of where things stand before the mid-year review process that concludes in July.

This year, 20 consolidated appeals or their equivalents with different names have been launched, calling for just over $10 billion. Thus far $3.7 billion has been contributed, representing 36 per cent of overall requirements. These resources meant the humanitarian system could respond to new emergencies - notably in Haiti which amounted to one-third of all appeal funding to date this year (excluding carry-over) - and to continue meeting urgent needs in protracted crises. At a time when the humanitarian community has been deeply concerned about the impact of the 2009 financial crisis on donor governments' humanitarian budgets, we are grateful for the continued generosity on their part.

However probably due in part to the attention and resources devoted to Haiti, contributions in the first quarter for other emergencies have generally been somewhat lower this year than in previous years, amounting to only 33 per cent of requirements excluding Haiti. For comparison purposes, the percentage at the same stage last year was 37 per cent, and in 2008 just before Cyclone Nargis, 51 per cent. Additional contributions are now slowly coming in, but it is important that this trend be accelerated. There are a number of appeals with significant funding shortfalls, and these have very serious consequences on field operations. This is our main focus today.

Of the 20 appeals, 14 are currently funded below 40% of requirements, with some barely reaching 20 per cent - such as Yemen, the occupied Palestinian territory, Guatemala and West Africa appeals. At the same time, funding for some of the better-supported appeals is mainly composed of carry-over from 2009. Out of an apparently average 39 per cent funding level for Chad, for example, only 9 per cent has been generated from fresh resources this year. I will come back to this broad issue after we have heard from our HC colleagues.

I want to also highlight the disparity in funding levels across clusters and in between clusters, which can and does lead to imbalances in service delivery. Let me give you some prominent examples of clusters which are being neglected, jeopardising any positive gains that might have been made in those countries in other areas.

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