KUALA LUMPUR: A high profile panel under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) secretary-general co-chaired by Sultan Nazrin Shah of Perak has completed its report on ways to address an estimated US$15 billion (RM66 billion) shortfall in humanitarian funding.
The report titled ‘Too Important to Fail - Addressing the Humanitarian Financing Gap’ was launched Sunday in Dubai and presented to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who had appointed the High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing in May 2015.
The event was hosted by United Arab Emirates Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his consort Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, chairperson of the International Humanitarian City.
In a UN statement, Ban noted that he had tasked the panel to identify ways in which the gap between rising needs and the resources available to meet them could be closed. Meanwhile, Sultan Nazrin and fellow co-chair Kristalina Georgieva noted that a gap of US$15 billion (RM66 billion) was a lot of money, but in a world producing US$78 trillion (RM343 trillion) of gross domestic product (GDP), it should not be out of reach to find.
“Closing the gap would mean nobody has to die or live without dignity for lack of money and a victory for humanity at a time when one is greatly needed,” said Sultan Nazrin and Georgieva, vice-president of the European Commission from Bulgaria.
In the course of its work, the panel conducted hundreds of interviews with all parts of the humanitarian ecosystem, including meetings with people affected by ongoing crisis.
“Our starting point was the stark facts and figures - 125 million people in need, a record US$25 billion (RM110 billion) a year going to aid them, but, in spite of that, the needs continue to outpace resources,” the co-chairs said.
The panel’s work will inform and shape the objectives of the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in Turkey scheduled for May 23 and 24.
“Our ambition for this report now is to carry it forward so that by the WHS in Istanbul there’ll be significant engagement by the global humanitarian system for making the necessary changes which will ensure that the needs of vulnerable people can always be adequately met,” Sultan Nazrin and Georgieva said.
Ban met members of the panel to thank them for what he described as an important contribution to shaping the priorities for the WHS.
“As the report’s title indicates, we simply cannot fail. We need fresh thinking and the determination to take bold decisions. I believe the panel has seized this opportunity and delivered,” the UN chief from South Korea said.
Ban said in a few weeks he would publish his report and vision for future humanitarian agenda, building “on the excellent report launched today to shape this important thinking.”
The secretary-general noted that the needs created by the demand for humanitarian aid had continued to rise dramatically.
“We are living in the age of the mega-crisis. But, as this report clearly demonstrates that the gap in funding is a solvable problem,” Ban said.
The report focuses on three areas to address the funding gap - shrinking the needs, growing the resource base for funding, and improving efficiency through a Grand Bargain between key humanitarian partners.
Its recommendations include:
-- Reclassify the eligibility criteria of the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) so that funding follows people in need and not countries.
-- Far higher proportion of official development assistance should be directed to situations of fragility and protracted emergencies, oriented towards building resilience and reducing fragility.
-- Triple the IDA’s Crisis Response Window and expand funding capacity for emergencies in other development finance institutions.
-- Governments should voluntarily sign up to a ‘solidarity levy’ mechanism at the WHS to fund humanitarian aid.
-- Channel Islamic social finance and other instruments to humanitarian causes.
-- Donors and aid organisations to commit jointly to change their working practices in a Grand Bargain. --Bernama