United Nations REQUESTS SUPPORT FOR GLOBAL EMERGENCY FUND IN 2007

NEW YORK, 7 December (OCHA) -- The United Nations this morning convened a high-level conference on support for the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) in 2007, as part of the ongoing process of humanitarian reform.

“Clearly, CERF has shown that it will provide assistance anywhere, and save lives everywhere,” said United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his keynote address to the conference.  “In the quest to improve lives, CERF enables us to lead from the front,” he stressed, adding, “it allows the United Nations to do more, and to do it sooner.”

Opening the conference, Acting President of the United Nations General Assembly, Mirjana Mladineo of Croatia, said that the support of both developing and developed nations to the CERF had “sent out a strong political signal, underlining the importance of multilateralism, by coming together to assist vulnerable victims of humanitarian crises independent of political and strategic considerations.”

Other high-level officials present at the conference include Raymond Johansen, State Secretary of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Norway; Joakim Stymne, State Secretary to the Minister for International Development Cooperation of Sweden; and Mustafa Cetin, Deputy Under-Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister of Turkey.  Additionally, representatives of at least 90 Member States, three permanent observer missions, and 17 United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations were in attendance.

The CERF, which was approved by the General Assembly in December 2005 and officially launched on 9 March 2006, helps the United Nations to save lives by providing quick initial funding for life-saving assistance and rapid response in sudden onset, rapidly deteriorating, and underfunded emergencies.  It helps to redress the imbalances in global aid distribution that have too often left millions of people in so-called neglected or forgotten crises in need.

Launched nine months ago, the CERF has provided over $230 million to 10 organizations for more than 320 projects in 30 countries.  These programmes have been funded by the $300 million in contributions made by 54 countries, local governments and private sector groups in 2006.  As a multilateral fund, created by all nations for the benefit of all nations, the CERF depends on broad-based support from all Member States to reach its total funding goal of $500 million as quickly as possible.

As part of a recent agreement with the United Nations Foundation, private individuals and organizations can now contribute to the CERF by visiting:  http://www.unfoundation.org/.

“I know that the CERF is not a silver bullet,” acknowledged United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland, who directs the Fund.  “We still need donors to fund the vast majority of needs through traditional channels.  However, the CERF is an insurance policy that allows us to jump-start emergency operations immediately,” he concluded.

For further information, please call:  Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 5126, mobile +1 917 892 1679; Kristen Knutson, OCHA-New York, +1 917 367 9262; Elisabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, +41 22 917 2653, mobile, +41 79 473 4570.  OCHA press releases are available at http://ochaonline.un.org or www.reliefweb.int.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record