Japan continues the assistance for affected persons by the security and humanitarian crises in Central African Republic

Yaoundé, 14 March 2017 – The Government of Japan renews its support for Central Africans and refugees, returnees and IDPs in the Central African Republic, affected by the security and humanitarian crisis, by granting new funding of 8.207 million US dollars to programmes of United Nations agencies in 2017.

This funding is allocated to different projects and as part of the Humanitarian Response Plan where Humanitarian Development nexus is a key objective in the activities. Hence, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) got 1.111 million USD for "Support to stabilisation, socio-economic recovery and prevention of radicalization of vulnerable populations through access to employment and social services in conflict-affected communities", the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) got 2.584 million USD for " Protection and assistance to refugees, returnees and IDPs in the Central African Republic ", the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) got 956,000 USD for " Facilitating access to appropriate services for children and families affected by the conflict in Central African Republic (CAR)", the World Food Programme (WFP) got 2.201 million USD for "Critical Support to Populations Affected by the Ongoing Crisis in the C.A.R. and its Regional Impact" and the World Health Organization (WHO) got 1.355 million USD for "Health emergency assistance to internally displaced persons, refugees and conflict-affected populations in Central African Republic".
The strategic objective of the integrated and coordinated interventions aims to support the Government of Central Africa for reinforcing food security, resilience of affected people and conflict prevention in Central African Republic.

According to the Ambassador of Japan, H.E Kunio OKAMURA, "This contribution reiterates the support and solidarity of the Japanese people to the people of Central African Republic and expresses the great respect for the hard work of the United Nations agencies and pleasure Japan has to continue its partnership to tackle humanitarian and development issues for this year. CAR is a country which, after several years of crisis, counts many internally displaced persons, returnees and refugees. This is the reason why Japan, through the United Nations agencies, has decided to materialize its solidarity towards the populations in CAR affected by humanitarian and security crisis and thus contribute to the reconstruction of CAR"

"The donation of the Government of Japan comes at an opportune time when humanitarian action in CAR is facing a chronic underfunding situation. While recent clashes between rival armed groups have generated thousands of new displaced, new needs may not be covered if the funding of the Humanitarian response Plan (HRP) is not sufficient. ", said Dr Michel Yao,
Interim Humanitarian Coordinator for the Central African Republic. He further recalled that “as of March 2017, only 5% of the 399.5 million requirements for the HRP where met”. While thanking Japan for not forgetting or neglecting the humanitarian crisis in CAR, Michel Yao seized this opportunity to call upon the donors community to remain committed and help consolidate gains made in the past. This is the only condition in order to avoid a relapse.