Statement to the press on the launch of CAP 2013

UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR, VALERIE AMOS

Rome, Friday 14 December 2012

Checked against delivery

I have just launched the humanitarian appeals for 2013 with Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the World Food Programme, and Michel Roy, Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, here in Rome.

The Consolidated Appeal for next year is on behalf of 51 million people in 16 countries around the world; men, women, children and the elderly who urgently need our support. They are displaced from their homes, hungry, unprotected and vulnerable, living with the consequences of natural disasters and violent conflict. As we enter 2013, there is no let-up in humanitarian needs in the world.

The Appeal includes the needs of a million boys and girls in Yemen who are suffering from acute malnutrition; nearly half a million refugees and returnees in South Sudan, and another two million who need food assistance; in Niger, 1.7 million people who do not have enough to eat.

The appeals cover 520 aid organizations and aim to deliver aid in an effective and coordinated way.

I would like to pay tribute to the communities, civil society organizations, businesses, local and national governments which are the first responders and throughout a protracted crisis, important providers of support and help. International humanitarian organizations supplement and support their efforts.

Combined, the 16 appeals and humanitarian plans we are launching today require US$8.5 billion.
We call on governments, private individuals, businesses and others to contribute to saving lives in 2013.