By Xinhua
Geneva : The UN has called on donor nations to pledge $3.8 billion to provide humanitarian aid next year to 25 million people affected by war and natural disasters worldwide.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes, presiding in Geneva over the launch of the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) Humanitarian Appeal for 2008, said the amount they were asking for was “about the price of two cups of coffee for each citizen of the wealthy countries of the world”.
Holmes said the 2008 CAP comprises 10 consolidated appeals to fund projects involving almost 200 UN agencies and aid organisations working together to provide humanitarian aid in a strategic, effective and prioritised way.
The appeal contains a higher proportion of NGO projects than ever before.
“Humanitarian funds are not going into endless and bottomless pits,” Holmes stressed, while noting that timely, well-coordinated aid has made a difference in many countries.
He urged countries to make early pledges and to be more generous: “We could do much better.”
About $3.3 billion has been committed to date for CAP humanitarian programmes in 2007. The European Commission, the Netherlands, Sweden, Britain and the US top the list in contributing emergency relief funding through these consolidated appeals.
CAP, which is managed by the UN emergency relief coordinator, has become the humanitarian sector’s main tool for coordination, strategic planning and programming, the UN said.
As a coordination mechanism, CAP has fostered closer cooperation between governments, donors, aid agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent movements and NGOs.