UN LAUNCHES $20 BILLION HUMANITARIAN APPEAL FOR 2016

Geneva, 27 Safar 1437/9 December 2015 (MINA) – The United Nations and its partners on Monday launched their largest ever humanitarian appeal, calling for 20.1 billion life-saving dollars for 2016.

Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien warned that global suffering has reached levels not seen in a generation.

“Conflicts and disasters have driven millions of children, women and men to the edge of survival. They desperately need our help,” O’Brien said as he launched the Global Humanitarian Overview 2016 in Geneva, calling the outlook for next year grim.

The new appeal seeks to deliver life-saving aid to over 87.6 million people across 37 countries, most of which are in conflict, International Islamic News Agency (IINA) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

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The “brutal, extended” conflicts in Syria, Iraq, South Sudan and Yemen will remain among the greatest drivers of prolonged humanitarian needs in 2016, fuelling new displacement within countries and across borders, the appeal said.

Worldwide, the number of people forced to flee their homes has already reached 60 million, a level previously unknown in the post-World War II era, half of them children.

O’Brien urged the international community to respond generously again to the appeal for funding to allow the UN agencies to meet the urgent needs of affected people, families, and communities. (T/Imt/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)