EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR ANNOUNCES PUBLICATION OF 'HUMANITARIAN REPORT OF 1997'

19 August 1997

Press Release
IHA/633

EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR ANNOUNCES PUBLICATION OF 'HUMANITARIAN REPORT OF 1997'

19970819 NEW YORK, 19 August (Department of Humanitarian Affairs)-- The Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General of Humanitarian Affairs, Yasushi Akashi, is pleased to announce the publication of Humanitarian Report 1997. The report reflects the main developments and trends in the area of emergency and disaster assistance over the past five years. Humanitarian Report 1997 describes how the basic mechanisms of humanitarian coordination have evolved since 1992 when the Secretary-General, in response to General Assembly resolution 46/182, appointed an Emergency Relief Coordinator and established the Department of Humanitarian Affairs. The publication also details the international response during 1996 and in the first quarter of 1997 to major humanitarian emergencies -- notably those in the Great Lakes region, Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, Angola and Liberia -- as well as to major natural disasters. In his foreword to the report, Secretary-General Kofi Annan says that experience has shown that, once a humanitarian emergency has occurred, the international community moves swiftly to address the suffering of the victims. Under the leadership of the Emergency Relief Coordinator, the Department of Humanitarian Affairs and organizations of the United Nations system -- including the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Together with donors, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Organization for Migration, non-governmental organizations and other concerned parties -- have raised over $10 billion dollars to deliver relief assistance to the needy. The report analyses several of the continuing challenges that confront the international community in meeting humanitarian needs around the world. These include containing and reducing the human and material damage and costs of natural, technological and environmental disasters; confronting the humanitarian consequences of anti-personnel land-mines; addressing the special requirements of internally displaced people; and moving beyond humanitarian relief to support the longer-term goals of sustainable political, economic and social development. Humanitarian Report 1997 may be obtained from United Nations Publications (Sales No. GV.E.97.O.11; ISBN 92-1-100745-3). * *** *