Press Releases 2006
- UN Supports Philippines with Emergency Funding, 13 December 2006
The United Nations country team in Manila, the Philippines, has requested US$ 2.6 million to fund rapid response projects from the CERF in order to support the Government’s efforts to meet needs arising from the impact of a succession of typhoons that have hit the country in recent weeks. [full text]
- UN Requests Support for Global Emergency Fund in 2007, 7 December 2006
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 on-going process of humanitarian reform. [full text]
- UN launches humanitarian air service in Central African Republic, 1 November 2006
The UN today launched a new Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) in the Central African Republic to help humanitarian agencies reach up to one million people who have been affected by violence in the north of the country. [full text]
- Advisory Group discusses 2007 goal for emergency fund, 12 October 2006
Convening in Geneva today, the Advisory Group to the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) will examine the success of the Fund in its first seven months of operation and recommend a funding goal for 2007. [full text]
- Highlights of briefing by ERC Jan Egeland and Marika Fahlen, Chairman, CERF Advisory Group, 12 October 2006
Just six months after it was created, the CERF has received more than USD 260 million to save lives by providing quick funding for victims of natural disasters and armed conflict [full text]
- Les Nations Unies accordent près de 24 millions de dollars d’aide à huit pays d’Afrique de l’ouest, 12 October 2006 (OCHA office in Dakar) (in French) [full text]
- CERF used for crises in 26 in first seven months, 29 September 2006
As of 30 September 2006, the United Nations will have committed $173.5 million from the new Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for more than 250 projects in 26 countries. [full text]
- CERF Provides $43 million to underfunded emergencies, 18 August 2006
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has made a second round of allocations totalling $43 million for chronically underfunded emergencies from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). [full text]
- CERF gives US$11 million for Afghanistan drought, 11 August 2006
Margareta Wahlström, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator announced an allocation of $11 million from the rapid response component of the CERF for emergency relief for drought-stricken Afghanistan. [full text]
- Aid Community seeks $149 million for Lebanon, 24 July 2006
The UN appealed for US $149 million for humanitarian aid for Lebanon to combat the worsening crisis gripping the country. Of the $149 million, $5 million are being allocated from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for logistics, common services, water and sanitation, and health care. [full text]
- CERF Advisory Group holds inaugural session; elects Chair and Vice-Chairs, 23 May 2006
The CERF Advisory Group today held its inaugural session at United Nations Headquarters in New York. Welcoming the Advisory Group members into their new positions was Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown, following the opening of the session by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland. [full text]
- Japan Pledges $7.5 million to Global Response Fund, 17 May 2006
The Government of Japan announced a pledge of $7.5 million for the CERF. The pledge makes Japan one of the top ten donors to the CERF and brings the total number of Member States contributing to the Fund to 41. [full text]
- Emergency Relief Coordinator allocates $32 million from global response fund, 10 May 2006
Jan Egeland announced that $32 million will be made available from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for the ten most under-funded emergencies in the world. [full text]
- The UN Secretary-General appoints the CERF Advisory Group, 28 April 2006
Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced the appointment of the twelve members of the Advisory Group for the new Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). The establishment of the Advisory group - whose main task is to provide periodic policy guidance and expert advice on the use and impact of the Fund to the Secretary-General - conforms to the provisions included in General Assembly resolution 60/124 (2005). [full text]
- UN Dedicates $1.7 million from new global emergency fund to Horn of Africa, 31 March 2006
The United Nations has granted just over $1.7 million from the CERF to the World Health Organization for urgent, life-saving programmes in the Horn of Africa, to support WHO and its partners' efforts to strengthen immunization campaigns, epidemiological surveillance and training of health professionals in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. [full text]
CERF in the News 2005-2006
- More money for CERF, but challenges remain, 21 December 2006 (IRIN)
The high-level conference on the expanded CERF held in New York on 7 December was significant for two reasons: it was well attended, and the response was unprecedented, with 51 donors - including 16 new ones - pledging $345 million for 2007. [full text]
- UN says new fund brings fair play to aid 'lottery', 12 October 2006 (Reuters)
A new emergency fund has succeeded in injecting some fair play into international aid, saving lives in crises from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Lebanon, the U.N.'s top humanitarian official said on Thursday. [full text]
- DPRK could benefit from UN emergency fund, 12 October 2006 (AFP)
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) could benefit from a United Nations emergency fund that is aimed at speeding up international response to disasters and crises, a senior UN official said here on Thursday. [full text]
- Effectiveness of new relief fund is proof UN can reform, 12 October 2006 (AP)
A six-month old United Nations emergency relief fund is ensuring timely assistance for those in need, and proves the global body can reform as demanded by many of its members, the U.N. humanitarian chief said Thursday. [full text]
- UN emergency response fund seeks new donors, 12 October 2006 (DPA)
Preparations began in earnest in Geneva to help replenish the UN's new Central Emergency Response Fund. [full text]
- Agencies work to save impoverished North Korean children as government chases nukes, 12 October 2006 (Xinhua via Comtex)
Major global relief agencies are quietly trying to save the lives of as many impoverished North Korean children as possible, even as the country's go-it-alone government claims to have entered the exclusive club of nuclear weapons powers, agency officials said Thursday. [full text]
- No single country is protected against disasters, 4 October 2006 (Estonian Daily)
This is an Op-Ed written by Jan Egeland and Mati Raidma (in Estonian) [full text]
- Korean participation in the CERF, 29 September 2006 (Korean Herald)
As Korea projects growing influence in world affairs, its responsibility as a middle power increases correspondingly. This responsibility extends from fighting terrorism, poverty eradication to humanitarian assistance. [full text]
- New UN disaster relief fund has committed over $170 million since March, 29 September 2006 (UN News Centre)
Over $170 million have been committed for more than 250 projects in 26 countries in the seven months since the United Nations launched a new landmark disaster fund to jump-start relief operations in humanitarian crises and save thousands of lives that would otherwise be lost to delay under the previous under-funded mechanism. [full text]
- The success of UN efforts to respond more effectively to humanitarian crises will depend on political decisiveness, 15 September 2006 (Irish Examiner, by Jan Egeland and Tom Arnold)
The CERF has provided assistance to over 200,000 Sudanese and 14,000 refugees who fled the Darfur region to Chad. Early indications show that the CERF is helping to increase the speed, reliability and equity of funding for emergencies. [full text]
- Managing Aid for Humanitarian Crises, 21 June 2006 (The Jakarta Post)
USG Egeland focuses on neglected crises and stresses the ethical principles shared by Islam and the other Abrahamic faiths in support of humanitarianism, as well as the role and significance of the CERF. [full text]
- UN calls for nearly $19 million in aid for Timor-Leste, 12 June 2006 (DPI)
The UN launched a flash appeal requesting some $18.9 million for humanitarian assistance to Timor-Leste, where an estimated 133,000 people have been displaced by the violence that has beset the country in recent weeks. [full text]
- CAR: Interview with Leodégal Bazira, head of UN country team, 19 May 2006 (IRIN)
Leodégal Bazira highlights the humanitarian crisis faced by the northwestern region of the CAR since the 2005 insurrection, which resulted in months of violence and inhuman suffering for the civilian population. [full text]
- Key NGOs cautiously optimistic on CERF, 20 April 2006 (IRIN)
As the first disbursements of the new Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) are made for relief efforts in the Horn of Africa and Cote d’Ivoire, key humanitarian NGOs expressed cautious optimism on the fund’s potential to improve the delivery of aid in sudden-onset disasters and in neglected crises worldwide. [full text]
- CERF launch promises immediate impact, 10 March 2006 (IRIN)
Flanked by the Prime Minister of Grenada, senior United Nations and government officials, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan formally launched the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) in New York on Thursday. [full text]
- Interview with CERF donor expert, 24 February 2006 (IRIN)
Kristina Koch, donor relations officer with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York, has been working on preparations for the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), a fund which will be launched in March and is set to transform the international response to disasters and crises. [full text]
- New fund promises enhanced aid response, 14 February 2006 (IRIN)
The new United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), cited by aid officials as one of the most significant humanitarian reforms in a decade, looks set to transform the funding of international responses to disasters and neglected crises. [full text]
- UN establishes new emergency fund, 16 December 2005 (IRIN)
The United Nations’ General Assembly has established a new Central Emergency Response Fund, or CERF, to help create quicker, more predictable UN funding for crises. [full text]
- Be Prepared, by Jan Egeland, 25 October 2005 (The Wall Street Journal)
USG jan Egeland explains why speedy humanitarian response is critical for saving lives and why delays cost lives. [full text]