OTTAWA, Canada, March 27, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, today announced more than $11 million in additional funding to help meet widespread humanitarian needs in the Central African Republic (CAR).
“Canada remains profoundly concerned by the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic,” said Minister Paradis. “The humanitarian situation has deteriorated at an alarming rate, violence has devastated many parts of the country since early 2013, and hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced. Canada will provide additional humanitarian assistance to trusted partners working on the ground to help them address the urgent needs and save lives.”
The Government of Canada is providing support to key partners such as the United Nations World Food Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and UNICEF, to address the needs of those most affected by the inter-communal violence, looting, destruction of housing and property, displacement, and grave human rights abuses.
Quick Facts
• The United Nations is estimating that 2.5 million people—more than half of the Central African Republic’s population—are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
• Over the course of 2013, Canada provided close to $7 million in humanitarian assistance to those affected by the crisis in CAR. This amount more than doubled the total Canadian humanitarian assistance provided to those affected in that country in 2012.
• In 2013, Canada was the sixth-largest humanitarian country donor responding to the needs in CAR.
• On February 11, 2014, Canada’s Minister of International Development and La Francophonie announced $5 million in new humanitarian assistance to address urgent needs in CAR.
Did you find this information helpful? If you did, consider donating.