Reaction to the High Level Pledging Conference for DR Congo

Published 13. Apr 2018
DR Congo

Statement by Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council:

¨We are disappointed that too few countries sent a real message of hope to the millions of Congolese children, women and men in desperate need of assistance,” said Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland.

While many countries have increased their support, the estimated amount of USD 530 million announced today by the United Nations would be far from sufficient to meet the needs of 10.5 million people targeted in the Humanitarian Response Plan. This year, USD 1.7 billion are required to assist affected populations in DR Congo.

“While we welcome the pledges made today, the response is far from matching the spike in humanitarian needs in Congo”, Egeland said.

The needs have more than doubled since 2014.

“More donor countries need to step forward, and those that are already contributing, need to do more to stop this humanitarian tragedy,” Egeland said.

“Without money, we simply cannot reach the people who need aid the most.”

NRC also calls for donors to ensure that the pledges made at the conference immediately are turned into cash for action.