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ICRC urges donors to fill funding gap for victims of protracted conflicts

Xinhua, September 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

Director of Operations at the International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC) on Wednesday urged donors to fill 2016's funding gap of 115 million U.S. dollars to address the humanitarian consequences of conflicts across the globe.

"These conflicts keep countries at constant breaking point year-on-year, ruining support systems vital to the lives of the general public," Dominik Stillhart explained in a statement.

"Challenges are particularly acute in cities, where essential services take a battering from years of war. People see water and electricity systems, schools and hospitals destroyed or badly damaged by years of fighting," he added.

According to the ICRC, operations in Israel and the occupied territories, Iraq, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia and Somalia are not only underfunded but also hampered by decades of crises.

With close to 70 percent of ICRC's humanitarian budget going to victims of long-term conflicts, some 1.1 billion U.S. Dollars of ICRC's spending now goes to those affected by crises which are often characterized by their length, intractability and complexity.

Stillhart also called for money to be delivered more predictably and that funds be allocated freely without preconditions tying their use to a specific country. Enditem