In an official statement released December 5, 2016, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien made an unprecedented request:
“This appeal 2017, comprising strategic and coordinated response plans covering 33 countries, is calling for US$22.2 billion – the highest amount we have ever requested.”
The appeal comes after the publication of the ‘Global Humanitarian Overview for 2017’, a report which assesses the financial requirements needed to address the world’s humanitarian crises.
The extraordinary figure of $22.2 billion is unsurprising to many, given the series of international political and natural disasters that swept the world over the course of 2016. Even O’Brien confirms the gravity of the situation, asserting that we are experiencing “a state of humanitarian need in the world not witnessed since the Second World War”.
The following infographic breaks down the financial and humanitarian motivations behind the record-breaking appeal.
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