Qatar gives $40 million for UN humanitarian aid

(New York, 23 February 2009): Qatar today announced a donation of $40 million to the United Nations for its humanitarian programmes worldwide. Thirty million dollars have been pledged for emergency operations in Gaza while $10 million will go through the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), making Qatar the ninth-largest contributor to the Fund for 2009.

"This is a generous and much appreciated contribution from Qatar, to the CERF as well as for the UN's critical humanitarian work in Gaza," said United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes. "The $10 million donation to the CERF is especially significant, as it allows the United Nations to allocate the funds based on need to other parts of the world that are often overlooked. I hope that other potential donors will follow suit, as humanitarian needs will only grow in 2009, considering the combined threats posed by intensified conflicts, climate change, the global food crisis and the global economic slowdown."

Of the $30 million that will go towards meeting the critical needs of Gazans affected by the recent military operation, $10 million has been allocated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for life-saving activities, and $10 million will be contributed to the World Food Programme's emergency food assistance for more than 1 million Gazans.

Five million dollars have been allocated for humanitarian programmes of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and $2.25 million for the Food and Agriculture Organisation's activities in support of the damaged agricultural sector. The remaining $2.75 million will go to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for coordination and advocacy activities.

CERF is a pooled fund that allocates its resources based on requests from United Nations Resident Coordinators in countries around the world. For funding requests to be approved, they must demonstrate that the programme will be life-saving, and that no other funding is available. So far in 2009 CERF has provided, for example, $8 million for food and safe water to people in Gaza, $10 million to boost aid efforts including water and nutrition programmes in Somalia, and $4 million for emergency programmes in Niger that have received inadequate support from donors to date.

Qatar's contribution makes it one of the Fund's top ten donors for 2009, (after the United Kingdom, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Canada, Ireland, and Germany). Since its establishment, more than 100 member states and private sector donors have contributed some $1.5 billion to CERF, which is administered by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The Fund, which was envisaged as being "by all, for all," has disbursed over $1.2 billion to help millions of survivors of natural disasters and conflict in 70 countries.

For further information, please call: Stephanie Bunker OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 5126, mobile +1917 892 1679, bunker@un.org; Nicholas Reader OCHA-New York, +1 212 963 4961, mobile +1 646 752 3117, reader@un.org; Elisabeth Byrs OCHA-Geneva,+41 22 917 2653, mobile, +41 79 473 4570, byrs@un.org.

OCHA press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org or www.reliefweb.int

For more information about CERF, please see http://cerf.un.org