Finland grants 42.7 million euros in humanitarian aid for the world’s distressed
Press release 66/2007
25 April, 2007
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted 42.7 million euros from development cooperation appropriations for humanitarian aid to the meet the needs of distressed populations in the world’s different, continually increasing crises. Finland’s humanitarian aid appropriations for the current year come to 60.4 million euros, of which about 70 per cent is now targeted for long-term, continuing crises.
The humanitarian aid granted by Finland is based on the joint annual appeal for assistance published by UN agencies, which this year covers a total of some 27 million people in need. As in past years, Africa is the focal point of the joint appeal. The sum now targeted for aid will be allocated through UN agencies, the Red Cross and programmes of civil society organisations to support people in the weakest position in 19 countries or regions.
The greatest needs for aid are again concentrated in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where prolonged violence and chaos have given rise to great refugee problems. Other targets of assistance in 2007 are Somalia, Uganda and the Palestinian areas in Gaza and the West Bank, where the threatened civilian population lives in a difficult humanitarian situation that Finland strives, through the decision now made, to alleviate.
Within the frame of this decision, support is pledged for important and cross-cutting themes, including the position of women and girls, and assistance for HIV/AIDS victims and their families.
The main channels of Finland’s humanitarian assistance are the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the United Nations World Food Programme, the WFP. In accordance with the decision now taken, a total of 14.5 million euros is pledged for the aid programmes of these organisations.
General assistance amounting to a total of 13 million euros will be used to support the work of the central humanitarian aid organisations. Of this sum, the UNHCR’s share, at 7 million euros, is the largest. Other recipients of general support are the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA: 3 million euros; the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA: 2 million euros; and the International Committee of the Red Cross: 1 million euros.
In line with the decision now taken, Finland also continues to support the ongoing reform process of UN humanitarian aid functions by reserving 5 million euros for the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund, CERF. Through CERF, the UN is able to react swiftly and to provide aid during the first phases of sudden crises.
Additional information: Ulla-Maija Finskas, Head of the Unit for Humanitarian Assistance, tel. +358 9 1605 6225, [email protected]