Every year, as we come together to express our support for the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the global humanitarian situation seems to become increasingly dire.

The ongoing war in Ukraine, the flaring up of the conflict in Sudan, earthquakes in Syria, Türkiye and Afghanistan, floods in Libya and Somalia, droughts in Ethiopia and other parts of the Horn of Africa.

And now the conflict in Gaza. These are just a few of the situations where humanitarian needs have skyrocketed this past year.

In these crises, CERF was one of the quickest, often THE quickest instrument to react.

We highly commend OCHA for these immediate activations of CERF, which were crucial in helping to alleviate human suffering.

We are pleased that Germany, as the largest donor to the CERF, contributed with 100 m EUR to this critical instrument in 2023.

We want to continue our support to CERF and will advocate for it, as we believe that:

Firstly, CERF is effective:

Based on local needs-assessment and planning, CERF allows to effectively target those in need, often within days of the outbreak of a crisis, which is especially important with regard to climate change induced disasters.

Secondly, CERF is a driver of innovation

CERF has been a front-runner in piloting anticipatory action, which has proven to be a very successful concept. We fully support the plans to scale up these anticipatory approaches.

Thirdly, CERF is a tool for inclusion

Complementing the important work of the Country-based pooled funds, CERF acts as an important instrument in advancing localization and inclusion – especially of women-led organizations. In light of our own Feminist Foreign Policy, Germany strongly believes that supporting effective localization is an increasingly important aspect of CERF’s work.

While the federal budget of Germany is still in the process of approval, I can already assure you of our continued financial support to CERF in 2024 and the following years.