Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, Opening remarks at High-Level Event for the Central Emergency Response Fund, 9 December 2022

As delivered

Excellencies, thank you, Mr. Secretary-General, ladies and gentlemen,

The Secretary-General has just highlighted why CERF is such a UN success story.

And in a few minutes, we will all see a video of how this success story is making an impact.

Allow me, therefore, to focus my remarks on why you are such important partners in this success story.

Because CERF, of course, is nothing without you.

Since CERF was created 16 years ago, you have given it more than US$8 billion to support people in more than 100 countries and territories.

And when I say “you”, I mean Governments, private donors, NGOs and philanthropists. It is you who believe that when vulnerable people need help, they need it to be high quality and they need it to be quick. They cannot afford to wait.

You, who understand that when a severely malnourished child needs treatment, she needs it now.

You, who know that when a pregnant mother in a camp for displaced people needs prenatal care, she needs it now.

You, who know that when a person living with a disability needs quality health care, he also needs it now.

And you, who know that when a community needs to be warned of an imminent flood, they need that warning now.

And you, indeed, who believe in the essence that inspires the CERF.

In how it is one of the fastest, most agile tools available to jump-start a response. It gets money out the door very, very quickly.

How it’s sometimes one of very few tools available to replenish a response.

And how it’s one of the most innovative tools available to prepare for a response.

All who have seen CERF in action know it’s not only a UN success story, it’s a collective success story.

And today we are gathered because this success story needs you.

It needs you to continue making a difference in the life of that malnourished child, that pregnant mother, that person with a disability, that community needing early warning.

And it needs you to renew your commitment to those who cannot afford to wait.

I thank you.