The UN has launched a record appeal for $16.4bn (£10.5bn) of aid donations to help almost 60 million people in 22 countries next year, warning that the proliferation of crises in Central African Republic (CAR), Iraq, South Sudan and Syria is stretching humanitarian resources to their limits.
Announcing the global humanitarian appeal on Monday, Valerie Amos, UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said 2015 was going to be an incredibly difficult year for 57.5 million of the world’s most vulnerable people.
“Over 80% of those we intend to help are in countries mired in conflict where brutality and violence have had a devastating impact on their lives,” she said.
“We will continue to put people at the centre of our relief efforts and do everything we can to respond quickly and effectively, but the rising scale of need is outpacing our capacity to respond.”
This year has seen a sharp rise in the number of people affected by conflict, with millions forced to flee their homes and left dependent on humanitarian aid.
Although the appeal also covers Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burma, the occupied Palestinian territories, Somalia, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen, more than 70% of the amount requested is needed for relief efforts in CAR, Iraq, South Sudan and Syria.
A significant portion of the requested funds would go to trying to alleviate the Syrian crisis, with $2.8bn intended to help 12.2 million inside the country and a further $4.4bn needed to help 6 million Syrian refugees in five asylum countries.
The UN estimates that the war in Syria has killed 191,000 people, displaced 7.6 million internally and compelled another 3.2 million to seek refuge in neighbouring countries.
Last week, the World Food Programme suspended the distribution of food vouchers to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees after it failed to secure the necessary funding from the international community. It warned that the impact could be devastating for a displaced population facing a harsh winter.
Conflict and insecurity in Iraq have displaced more than 2.1 million people across the country and left 5.2 million in need of aid – of whom 2.2 million are in areas under the control of Isis.
In South Sudan, where civil war broke out a year ago, 1.5 million people are severely food insecure, while the sectarian violence that has plagued CAR since March has left a quarter of the population – more than 1 million people – displaced within its borders or in neighbouring countries.
“This is not business as usual in the humanitarian world,” said António Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees. “Today’s needs are at unprecedented levels, and without more support there simply is no way to respond to the humanitarian situations we’re seeing in region after region and in conflict after conflict.”
The numbers of those in need is likely to rise in February, when the UN launches strategic response plans for Djibouti and nine countries in the Sahel region.
Last December, the UN appealed for the then-unprecedented sum of $12.9bn for 2014 as it tried to deal with Syria, CAR and the aftermath of typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. The demand for this year has now risen to $17.9bn, of which international donors have provided $9.4bn.
“Every year we ask our donors to do more – and they do. But as crises become more complex and go on longer, the gap between needs and resources grows,” said Amos.
“I hope we can close it in 2015 because if we don’t raise the money it means that we are able to help fewer children, women and men with medicine, food and shelter; the basics they need to survive.”
