ROME/NEW YORK, DECEMBER 8 – Italy pledged to increase its contribution to CERF, the UN fund for humanitarian emergencies. Italy’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emanuela Del Re, made the announcement during her address to the annual conference for donors of the Fund. The meeting, which this year was held virtually, was opened by the Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Guterres: 225 millions for forgotten crises
CERF was established by the General Assembly in 2006 to respond more rapidly and effectively to urgent humanitarian crises and to the so called ‘forgotten’ crises. In 2020, the Fund contributed 820 million euros to life-saving initiatives across 52 countries, 225 million of which went into 20 different ‘neglected crises’, said Guterres. He also explained how this year, for the first time, the fund was used – in countries such as Somalia and Bangladesh- for anticipatory actions, which closely proceeded the humanitarian impact. Deputy Minister Del Re expressed Italy’s support for this type of approach. Today over 50 donors have committed themselves to donations summing over 370 million dollars for the year 2021. This sum is higher than the one pledged in 2020.
Del Re, CERF is an effective instrument for quick action
In her address, Del Re underlined how one person out of 33 in the world will be in need of assistance and humanitarian protections in 2021. This number is the highest in recent decades, and CERF “has proved itself to be an effective instrument through which to provide quick, financial support in the case of unexpected and under-funded emergencies”. Indeed, the UN has used the CERF fund to alleviate the suffering of those people recently hit by the ‘Eta’ hurricane in Central America, and has furthermore used it to support world-wide Covid-19 responses. (@OnuItalia)
