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European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
News article4 November 2022Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO)

Disaster response: EU co-chaired Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF) pledging conference

DREF Ukraine
© IFRC, 2022.

On 4 November, the European Commission co-chaired the Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF) pledging conference.

The objective of the conference was to promote the DREF and collect pledges by donors for 2023. The funding helps people in disasters receive the urgent assistance by the local responders.

Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, delivered a video message during the event: "The European Union greatly values the role that the IFRC and the National Societies play in emergency response. Local actors are key to deliver fast, quality and cost-efficient assistance to people affected by disasters. For more than 10 years, the EU has been one of the major donors to the DREF, with approximately €7 million allocated in 2021. In 2022, we already assisted 55 DREF operations throughout 2022, for example in response to Ebola virus outbreak, floods in Pakistan, cholera in a number of countries, among others. The EU will continue to help as needed this year and beyond."

The EU has been supporting the DREF since 2009 and consistently increasing its annual contribution. In 2021, EU humanitarian aid funding represented 22% of total DREF contributions.

The European Commission is currently co-chairing the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Donor Advisory Group.