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We thank the Secretary-General and the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs for organising the second high level event for the CERF, and we warmly welcome the opportunity to participate this morning.
New Zealand remains strongly committed to the CERF as a mechanism that has the potential to save lives and reduce the suffering of millions of people affected by conflict and natural disasters each year, through the timely and predictable disbursement of funds at the onset of an emergency or rapidly deteriorating crises as well as for ensuring the adequate funding of under-funded emergencies.
We consider the CERF a central component of the humanitarian reform agenda that continues to require the urgent, consolidated, and sustainable support of the entire humanitarian community. Of equal importance are efforts made to improve coordination and emergency response capacity of the humanitarian community, and New Zealand welcomes attention to such efforts.
Today we are delighted to announce that New Zealand has made a contribution of NZ$1 million dollars to the CERF in addition to the multi-year commitment of US$1 million dollars per annum. This contribution underscores our support to the CERF in ensuring a more predictable and timely international response to humanitarian crises and under funded emergencies.
We encourage further pledges to the CERF in order to achieve the target of $450 million dollars, and we note that we are fast approaching this target with allocations to date of US$349.5 million dollars. We look forward to the 2008 review of the CERF, and we note that it is essential that the Fund has the benefit of long-term, sustainable funding from donors, and that contributions are truly additional to existing humanitarian budgets.
We believe it important to acknowledge the role of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement as well as the humanitarian NGO community in humanitarian crises, and that they continue to rely on funding channels outside of the CERF. New Zealand welcomes further attention to the funding of these entities from the CERF, as most often they are at the forefront of immediate humanitarian response efforts.
In concluding, we would like to take the opportunity to thank Mr. John Holmes and his team from the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs for their dedicated efforts while reaffirming our support for their future endeavours. We would also like to pay tribute to the staff engaged by all humanitarian agencies and organisations on the front line, who dedicate themselves to alleviating the pain and suffering of those affected by humanitarian crises.
