Egypt expresses concern at UN about rise in humanitarian needs due to global crises

CAIRO – 22 June 2022: Egypt's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Osama Abdel Khaleq expressed Egypt's concern about the rise in humanitarian needs caused by armed conflicts, natural disasters, climate change, COVID-19 and hike in food prices.

The ambassador noted that the segments most influenced are women and children, asserting the importance of reaching peaceful settlements to conflicts, and protecting humanitarian aid workers and medics in hostile areas.

Abdel Khalef further stressed that the effectiveness of the multilateral system in crises resolution must be rooted in adherence to criteria that align with the UN Charter.

The diplomat delivered before the Security Council in April a trans-regional statement on "Peace-building Financing," representing 108 states. 

Those are African and European countries as well as some Asian, North American, South American and Caribbean countries, as indicated by a press statement released Thursday.

The ambassador stipulated in the statement the necessity of providing a sufficient, sustainable, and predictable funding to peace-building activities in countries impacted by conflicts. He also stressed the salience of devising a comprehensive solution for the funding challenge by examining all available financing options.

Abdel Khaleq further called for the meeting to formulate a precise process in the form of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution. In that context, he noted that this is the first time of its kind where a number of countries belonging to various continents speak in one voice to advocate for investing in peace-building efforts and conflict prevention by securing the suitable funding.

The Egyptian envoy to the United Nations equally delivered another statement, representing Africa, to communicate the continent's ambitions, asserting that financing peace building should not be depending basically and exclusively on voluntarily contributions. That is why peace-building activities must receive regular financing from the United Nations budget, he clarified.

Egypt also encouraged deepening the partnership between the United Nations and the African Union on human and institutional capacity-building. That is in addition to backing the African Union Center for Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development (PCRD), headquartered in Cairo and that was launched in November.