“This calling establishes where we must first focus our collective energy: life after life.”said UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher.
Millions in need
The updated GHO comes after a year marked by brutal cuts to humanitarian operations and a record number of deadly attacks on aid workers.
It includes 29 detailed plans, and the largest is for the occupied palestinian territorywhere 4.1 billion dollars are needed to reach about three million people.
In Sudan$2.9 billion is needed to provide lifesaving aid to 20 million people trapped in the world’s largest displacement crisis, and another $2 billion for the seven million Sudanese who have fled the country.
The largest of the regional plans is for Syriaat 2.8 billion dollars for 8.6 million people.
Cuts and consequences
Fletcher recalled that the 2025 appeal received only $12 billion, the lowest funding in a decade. As a result, humanitarian assistance reached 25 million fewer people than the previous year.
The consequences were immediate, including increased hunger and strained health systems, “even as famines hit parts of Sudan and Gaza,” he said at a news conference ahead of this year’s launch.
“Programs to protect women and girls were cut and hundreds of aid organizations were closed. And more than 380 aid workers were killed, the highest number ever recorded..”
Humanitarians under attack
The UN aid chief described aid workers as “overstretched, underfunded and under attack”, something he has stressed on several occasions.
“Only 20 percent of our appeals are supported. And we take the ambulance to the fire in their name,” he said.
“But now they also ask us to put out the fire. And there is not enough water in the tank. And they shoot at us.”
Support from Member States
Aid workers will now appeal to UN Member States and ask for their support.
This will happen over the next 87 days: “one for every million lives we aim to save,” he said.
Countries will also be urged to increase protection for humanitarian workers,”not with statements of concern, but by holding those who kill us and those who arm those who kill us accountable”he added.