The United Nations announced today that funding for its humanitarian missions is facing record shortfalls, warning of rising risks for humanitarian workers.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that the UN’s appeals to raise funds for its humanitarian programs around the world amounted to $48.7 billion, but so far only $15 billion has been raised.
“Global needs have never been so high, with a record 303 million people in crisis globally,” OCHA spokesman Jens Larki told reporters in Geneva.
He stressed that the deficit of more than $33 billion is “the largest deficit we have ever recorded, but $15 billion is also the largest amount ever paid by donors, and the problem is this: the need for around the world are growing much faster than donor funding.”
UN messages include addressing issues such as the drought in the Horn of Africa and the aftermath of the war in Ukraine, Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria.
Larkey pointed out that “solving these problems will benefit the whole world, because many of them will get worse in the future if they are not solved now.”
On 19 August, at its headquarters in Geneva, the United Nations will organize a ceremony to mark World Humanitarian Day.
“Humanitarians have never been asked to respond to such needs, and they do so in increasingly dangerous situations,” Larkey added.
Source: El Nashra
