Humanitarian agencies appeal for $3.9 billion in aid for 2007

(New York: 30 November 2006): At United Nations headquarters today, Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched the Humanitarian Appeal 2007 -- thirteen consolidated appeals for specific emergencies -- seeking $3.9 billion to help 27 million people in 29 countries. Some 140 non-governmental organisations, United Nations agencies, and other international and local organizations are appealing for funds through the Humanitarian Appeal this year.

Participating in the launch were H.R.H. Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, Goodwill Ambassador, World Food Programme (WFP); Dr. Denis Mukwege, Director of the Panzi Hospital, Democratic Republic of the Congo; and Jan Egeland, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

The 2007 Appeal seeks humanitarian funding for the following crises: Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the occupied Palestinian territory, West Africa, Uganda, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Chad, Burundi, Great Lakes Region, Cote d'Ivoire, Central African Republic, and the Republic of Congo.

"These 27 million individuals seek not a handout, but a hand up," said the Secretary-General as he launched the Appeal, "and I hope that, once again, we will respond -- not with pity, but with practical assistance."

"Each year, we knowingly fail to provide for a child suffering from disease of hunger. Each year we knowingly fail a mother...who struggles to feed her family under desperate conditions. Each year, we fail to offer vitally needed assistance to health care professionals like Dr. Mukwege, working valiantly on the frontlines," stressed the Secretary-General, urging donors to fully fund the Appeal.

The 2006 Appeal sought $4.7 billion and received (as of 31 October 2006) $3 billion. In 2006, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners have fed 97 million people in 82 countries, including 6.5 million people in Sudan; vaccinated more than 30 million children against measles in emergency situations, including 51 per cent of children under five years of age in the Central African Republic; supported hundreds of emergency health facilities, including 210 health centres in Burundi; created hundreds of emergency education facilities; supplied safe drinking water to millions of crisis-affected people, including by drilling 214 new boreholes in displacement camps in Uganda; provided protection and assistance to some 20 million refugees and displaced persons; and supported child protection activities in some 150 countries. Now, 2007 will bring fresh challenges.

Consolidated and Flash Appeal funding improved in 2006 compared to most previous years, going back to 2000, in terms of funding as a percentage of requirements. The 63 per cent funding of the 2006 Appeals is better in year-to-date terms than any previous year, except 2003 and 2005, each of which had a "headline crisis", which 2006 has fortunately lacked.

In 2006, 65 Governments contributed to appeals -- slightly less than the 74 Government donors in 2005, which was heavily influenced by the tsunami, but greater than previous years. Among other donors, the United States, European Commission, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Japan top the list in 2006 in channelling emergency relief funding to crises through the consolidated appeals in countries where they exist. The United Nations is hopeful that, in 2007, this improvement can be built upon with a common commitment to reach 100 per cent funding of all appeals.

For further information, please contact: Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, +41 22 917 2653, mobile +41 79 473 4570; Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 5126, mobile +1 917 892 1679; Kristen Knutson, OCHA-New York, +917 367 9262.

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