According to Yonhap:
The United Nations will provide US$2 million in aid to North Korea as part of its humanitarian efforts, a news report said Saturday.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, part of the U.N. Secretariat responsible for humanitarian actions, plans to deliver the financial support to its peer organizations working in the reclusive regime, according to a new report by Radio Free Asia (RFA).
The aid will be provided through the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which has offered a total of $6.5 million to Pyongyang since 2011. The annual sum given to the communist state has varied each year: $5 million in 2011, $7 million in 2012 and $2.1 million in 2013.
U.N. offices based in the North decide on the spending through negotiations with the head of United Nations Development Programme stationed there. Other U.N. affiliated organizations that provide financial aid to the North include the World Food Plan, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund.
The CERF plans to send $100 million to 12 countries around the world in this batch.
Syria will receive the highest amount of $30 million, followed by Lebanon with $18 million. North Korea will receive the least.
The Daily NK reports the following:
On January 27th, Radio Free Asia reported that over the past nine years, the UN has contributed 98.9 million USD in humanitarian assistance to North Korea.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) reported the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) distributed 6.5 million USD overall through four different UN agencies last year, and 96.9 million USD in total between 2007 and 2014.
An additional 2 million USD for support to North Korea was contributed by the UN just in the past three months.
The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) began offering assistance in 2006 to those nations that were in drastic need of humanitarian support, but were not getting those needs filled by the international community.
Since that time, the 98.9 million USD sent to North Korea represents 7.4% of the UN’s overall international donations budget, which stands at approximately 1.34 billion USD.
The UN organizations currently providing assistance to North Korea include the World Food Program (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Program (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Read the full story here:
U.N. to provide N. Korea with US$2 mln aid
Yonhap
2015-1-24
