US$375 million pledged for Central Emergency Response Fund in 2012

(New York, 16 December 2011): More than 40 donors today pledged US$375 million to the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). Since its launch in 2006, CERF, which has an annual funding target of US$450 million, has enabled life-saving and immediate help for millions of people in some 85 countries and territories.

“CERF has exceeded expectations. It has disbursed more than US$2 billion, making it one of the largest sources of humanitarian funding in the world,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “Two out of three members of the General Assembly have contributed to it, showing how widely it has become accepted.”

Member States such as Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Indonesia, Norway, Sweden, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom announced increases to their 2012 pledges contributing to a $16 million increase in total pledges compared to 2011. Denmark announced that it will double its contribution to nearly $18 million, making it one of the largest donors.

“Denmark is confident that the CERF will continue to be an extremely important mechanism to secure rapid funding of acute humanitarian interventions as well as an indispensable tool to ensure that funding is allocated to the forgotten crises outside the public focus,” said Christian Friis Bach, Minister of Development Cooperation for Denmark.

Two new donors, Uruguay and Niger, pledged their support for CERF today, bringing the total number of donors for 2012 to 46. In the last six years, a total of 126 Member States and observers, as well as some 30 public and private donors have contributed more than $2.8 billion to the Fund.

The new pledges will allow the Fund to continue helping aid agencies jump-start emergency responses during natural disasters and other crises.

“I thank the Member States for their strong support, which underscores their continued belief in CERF, and will enable us to help even more people in need,” emphasised Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos. “While we look to maintain the commitment of our biggest donors, we are continually seeking to engage other partners to contribute more to the CERF.”

There are now 41 countries that are both contributors to and recipients of the Fund. Recent contributions from recipient countries such as Benin, China, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, Niger, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey amount to nearly $950,000.