UN Emergency Response Fund: Indian diplomat Anjani Kumar announced on Tuesday that India will be contributing $ 500000 to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund(CERF) at High-level pledging conference for 2017. Kumar told that the combined contribution by India stood at $ 6 million considering country’s contribution since 2006.
Nations pledge to contribute $273 million to UN Emergency Response Fund
“As we struggle to address the scale and complexity of unprecedented humanitarian challenges, CERF has never been more relevant than today… CERF is a success story that we all can be proud of. The yellow fever outbreak in Angola halted by an extensive and timely vaccination campaign is an example of where CERF played a critical role.”
-Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien
At the pledging session on Tuesday, over 29 countries promised contributions amounting $273 million to CERF.
“Despite our own resource constraints, India has always been forthcoming within its ability and national circumstances in offering humanitarian assistance as per the needs and requests of our friends and partners”, said Anjani Kumar pointing towards the financial aid that India has forwarded to
“These efforts have ranged from an immediate supply of relief materials to emergency evacuation of a very large number of persons of various nationalities from danger zones.”
“The scale of humanitarian deprivation is greater than at any time since the UN was founded.”
Furthermore, he said that almost 130 million people need humanitarian assistance to survive. In 2016, 50 needy countries have receive relief fund from CERF. Ever since its commencement, it has provided $4.6 billion financial assistance to 98 nations.
“Addressing these needs require immediate attention. Any delay in providing assistance can have long-term consequences. There is a need for coordination and partnership to meet these challenges”
