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UN Aid Finance Appeals Going Unmet

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Although global humanitarian needs have recently reduced – from $11.3 billion for 74 million people in 2010 to $8.9 billion for 62 million people in 2011 – almost two-fifths of UN appeals for humanitarian aid financing still went unmet. This is part of a long-term downward trend, and the unmet financing needs in 2011 were at their widest for a decade. According to the Global Humanitarian Assistance report 2012, Haiti and Pakistan received 42% of the total aid, while other recipients with less high-profile crises experienced a reduction in their collective share and in the absolute volumes of funds received. The lack of financing in disaster prevention raises doubts about the ability of the humanitarian system to respond and adapt to slow-building complex disasters.




By Nick Mead and Emily Bakosi

Guardian
July 20, 2012

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Almost two-fifths of UN appeals for humanitarian aid financing went unmet last year, according to the Global Humanitarian Assistance (GHA) report 2012.

Overall humanitarian needs fell in 2011, with 12 million fewer people targeted for humanitarian assistance within the UN's consolidated appeals process than a year earlier.

But despite the reduced level of humanitarian needs in 2011, 38% of appeals for financing made by the UN went unmet. In 2011, unmet financing needs stood 10% higher than in 2007.

There was also a drop of 9% in the volumes of humanitarian aid provided by governments and private donors, to $17.1bn, the report found. A number of European donors – the Netherlands, Ireland, Austria and Greece – all reduced their budgets for the third year in a row.

The UN had requested $8.9bn to meet the humanitarian needs of 62 million people. That compared with an appeal for $11.3bn to help 74 million people in 2010. Nonetheless, it received only $5.5bn of its 2011 request.

The GHA 2012 report said aid had gone to recent larger humanitarian disasters at the expense of small, less high-profile crises.

In particular, there was a major increase in the concentration in two recipients – Haiti and Pakistan received 42% of the total – while all other recipients experienced a reduction in their collective share and in the absolute volumes of funds received.

The report called into question the ability of the international response system to heed early warnings and act quickly enough. In the Horn of Africa food crisis only 28% of the UN funding appeal requirements for Somalia had been met by June 2011, weeks before famine was declared.

Report author Lydia Poole said: "The system is clearly falling short when levels of unfinanced humanitarian need are higher than we've seen in 10 years, despite a drop in the overall level of need. However, the paucity of information at our disposal prevents us from having a clear, full picture, meaning that we are still unable to say whether donors are truly responding to needs – a central tenet of global humanitarian practice."

 


 

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