UN seeks record USD 20bn for humanitarian aid

The UN today launched its largest ever humanitarian appeal of USD 20.1 billion to help nearly 88 million people hit by protracted conflicts and disasters around the globe.
"The overall picture is bleak. Human suffering has reached levels not seen since the second World War. More than a 125 million people will need humanitarian assistance to survive in 2016," said Stephen O'Brien, UN under-secretary- general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
"Of those (125 million people) we target the most vulnerable-87.6 million people. We appeal with our partners for USD 20.1 billionto do so," he said while launching the Global Humanitarian Overview 2016 here.

"And this is the largest appeal we have ever launched," he added.
The USD 20.1 billion aid is five times the amount needed for humanitarian assistance a decade ago.
In 2016, protracted conflicts, like in Syria, Iraq, South Sudan and Yemen, will continue to be the greatest drivers of human sufferings and will take up the bulk of the funding requirements.

2016 will also see the worsening impact of natural disasters with the El Nino set to be the strongest on record.
Syria is estimated to require USD 8 billion, followed by Yemen (USD 1.6 billion), South Sudan (USD 1.3 billion), Ethiopia (USD 1 billion), and Iraq (861 million), among other countries.

Afghanistan, which has the largest mine victims in the world will require USD 380 million to reach 3.5 million people out of the 8.1 million people who require assistance, Myanmar will require USD 190 million to reach 563,000 people, and occupied Palestinian territory will require USD 570 million to reach 2.3 million people.
In these protracted conflicts internal political solutions remain "elusive".
"Let it be absolutely clear that if there were political solutions to the conflicts of the world, that would be by far the biggest reducer of the demand for humanitarian action," O'Brien said.
"This is the moment for these appeals to be taken seriously. Of course, it is a lot of money but if you can bear with military expenditure or with bailout of the financial system, its perfectly affordable," said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres.

Last year saw a record funding gap of USD 10.2 billion with an international contribution of USD 9.7 billion which represented only 49 per cent of the requirements for this year.
Some of the African countries saw the largest amount of humanitarian funding gap in 2015.
For instance, Sahel region got 15 per cent of its funding requirement, Senegal (funded 17 per cent), Gambia (funded five per cent) and South Sudan (funded 21 per cent).