(EMBARGOED UNTIL 5 A.M. EASTERN STANDARD TIME, 19 NOVEMBER 2002)

UNITED NATIONS				NATIONS UNIES

CONSOLIDATED APPEALS FOR 2003 TO PROVIDE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

(United Nations, 19 November 2002):  The United Nations launches the 2003 Consolidated Appeals today and tomorrow, calling on the international community to provide over three billion dollars to help fifty million people in thirty countries and regions of the world.  The humanitarian crises included in this year’s appeals are Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Chechnya and Neighbouring Republics (Russian Federation), Cote d’Ivoire (and West Africa sub-region), Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Great Lakes Region, Guinea, Indonesia, Liberia, occupied Palestinian territory, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Southern Africa Region, Sudan, Tajikistan, and Uganda.  

The theme of the 2003 Consolidated Appeals, Hope for the Future, emphasizes the importance of providing hope to communities ravaged by conflict and other crises.  Yet it also addresses the need to support countries emerging from crisis or conflict, such as Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, which require humanitarian aid during the critical transition period leading to durable peace and sustainable development. With the aim to bring food to the hungry, medical assistance to the sick, shelter to displaced populations, and to provide for other basic needs, aiding some 50 million people in failed states, countries facing civil war or communities devastated by conflict, the Consolidated Appeals Process is a tool created a decade ago by the United Nations General Assembly to plan a common humanitarian strategy and maximize resources. In all targeted countries, aid channeled through the Consolidated Appeal helps provide hope for the future and  fight inequality and injustice.  

In developing Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals, the international humanitarian community seeks to support governments in affected states in fulfilling their responsibility to assist and protect people in need.  To this end, United Nations Agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and governments work in partnership to ensure common analysis and strategy development to promote efficiency, accountability, and a good use of resources. These appeals are dynamic; they are reviewed and updated throughout the year, and new appeals are added as new challenges emerge.

The Consolidated Appeals are being launched in eight cities around the world.  Today, the launch was spearheaded by the Deputy Secretary-General, Ms. Louise Frechette in Bern; in Washington D.C. the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Mr. Mark Malloch Brown; in Brussels the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello; in Luxembourg the Representative of the Secretary-General for Internally Displaced Persons, Mr. Francis Deng; and in New York by Ms. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund together with Ms. Carolyn McAskie, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Tomorrow, launches are being held in Tokyo by the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Mr. James Morris; in The Hague by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr. Ruud Lubbers, and in Canberra by the Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Kenzo Oshima.

Donors are requested to contribute generously to the appeals in order to provide hope for the future to those whose lives have been uprooted by conflict and natural disasters and to those who live in countries emerging from conflict.  

For further information, please contact Stephanie Bunker, OCHA New York, tel. 1 212 963-4832 (bunker@un.org) or Madeleine Moulin-Acevedo, OCHA Geneva, tel. 41 22 917-3160(moulin-acevedo@un.org).