MEETING OF CONSOLIDATED INTER-AGENCY APPEALS CONTINUES

Press Release
IHA/691

MEETING OF CONSOLIDATED INTER-AGENCY APPEALS CONTINUES

Speakers Say Increased Tensions Necessitate Increased Humanitarian Aid

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 24 November (UN information service)Top officials of United Nations specialized agencies and organizations this morning stressed the importance of the programmes that would benefit from the funds to be raised by the Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeals (CAP 2000).

Representatives from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) told Member States that increased tensions around the world had necessitated an increase in the amount of humanitarian aid.

At Tuesday's launch of CAP 2000, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan set a goal of $ 2.4 billion to be raised for the consolidated appeals.

Berti Ramcharan, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, said human rights programmes were growing players in conflict prevention, peacekeeping, peace-making, and peace-building. Without human rights components, he said, humanitarian and peacekeeping actions would run the risk of dealing only with immediate crises, and not laying the foundations for sustained peace and security.

Peter Schatzer, Director of External Relations for IOM, concurred. He said one of the lessons learned from the Kosovo crisis was the importance of establishing post-conflict mechanisms. IOM, he said, had set up a post- emergency unit, and it was now in operation in East Timor.

Jean Daniel Tauxe, Director of Operations for the ICRC, said his organization's activities had not changed; they had simply expanded this year because of the number of humanitarian crises. Such an expansion forced the ICRC to increase its budget, he said. It was involved in 60 "operational contexts", including 20 open conflicts and nearly 40 escalating situations that had the potential of becoming conflicts.

Margareta Wahlstrom, Under-Secretary-General of the IFRC, meanwhile, stressed the need for longer-term planning in areas of conflict. Addressing the concept of forgotten people, she said they may not have been excluded from immediate emergency relief, but rather they had been ignored following initial life-saving efforts. Emergency response skills had been developed in the past years, she said, yet there might have been a temptation to see this response as a solution, rather than a temporary alleviation of human suffering.

Hirofumi Ando, the Deputy Executive Director for Policy and Administration for UNFPA, said women and children were particularly vulnerable and were often forgotten during emergency situations. They were at greater risks for sexual exploitation, abuse and violence, and the needs of pregnant women were often ignored, including during the delivery and postpartum stages.

Anne Bauer, Chief of the Special Relief Operations Service at the FAO, said her organization had responsibilities in the whole range of interventions, from early warning and emergency relief to rehabilitation and long-term recovery. She added that since the majority of those affected by disasters and emergencies lived in rural communities, FAO's mandate was highly relevant to the objective of the programmes contained in the Consolidated Appeals Process.

Also addressing the Member States was Joel McClellan, Executive Secretary of the Standing Committee on Humanitarian Response (SCHR), who said that although most non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were at first apprehensive about being included in the Consolidated Appeals Process, most were now interested in its potential. It was important, he noted, that the field experience of NGOs be taken into account. Often, he said, the appeal money was not spent in the field, but was rather diverted because of decisions made in New York or Geneva.

Also addressing the meeting were representatives of France, the European Commission, Canada, Sweden, Japan and Argentina.

The two-day meeting of the Consolidated Appeals Process ends this afternoon after presenting the Consolidated Appeals for the Great Lakes Region and Central Africa, for Afghanistan and Tajikistan, for Southeastern Europe and the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, for Southern and Western Africa, and for Sudan and Somalia.

Statements

BERTI RAMCHARAN, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), said the participation of the Office in the Consolidated Appeals process testified to the emergence of an integrated and holistic approach to crisis management. The human rights programme was a growing player in efforts for conflict prevention, peace-making, peacekeeping, and peace-building. Without the human rights dimension, humanitarian and peacekeeping actions would run the risk of dealing only with immediate crises rather than laying the foundations for peace and security in the future. The human rights dimension was intended to give to humanitarian, peacekeeping and peace-making actions a preventative and peace- building character.

In the post 1945 period, gross violations of human rights had taken numerous victims alongside wars and internal conflicts. Nowadays, while gross violations of human rights still abounded, internal conflicts proliferated with devastating consequences for human rights. The human rights movement had to grapple with this new reality. In response, the human rights movement was in the process of adding a new pillar to its traditional work of drafting laws, research, promotion, dissemination, advisory services, fact-finding and fostering of national strategies, institutions and systems. The new pillar was represented by field operations in situations of conflict and in post-conflict peace-building situations. Today, the Human Rights Commission had appointed some 34 special rapporteurs with thematic or country mandates. The OHCHR had officers in 23 countries and had technical assistance projects in 55 countries. The OHCHR was also responding to requests from an increasing number of countries wishing to establish independent national institutions to promote human rights or to develop national human rights plans of action.

HIROFUMI ANDO, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said this World Humanitarian Day reflected how the entire UN system, together with partners from civil society, worked together to respond to emergencies and natural disasters. The interface between population and development and humanitarian assistance had been recognized for some time. The Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994 and the ICPD+5 review process had emphasized that reproductive health services, including family planning, were vital human rights and also applied to health concerns of populations affected by emergencies and natural disasters. Emergency situations posed particular dangers to women who were vulnerable and were often forgotten during pregnancy, childbirth or postpartum recovery. They exposed women and adolescents to a much greater risk of sexual exploitation, abuse and violence. These needs must be addressed with the same importance devoted to other aspects of emergency relief.

PETER SCHATZER, International Organization for Migration (IOM), said the Consolidated Appeals Process was important not only to make funding needs better known, but to ensure that IOM's action was integrated as a part of the wider coordinated approach. This demonstrated the conviction that IOM should only participate in areas where it had an expertise. The amounts IOM was seeking totalled about 30 per cent of the organization's operational budget for the year 2000. Donor responses for the forgotten people had been modest to disappointing, with the exception being Kosovo. Making a transition from a society in conflict to a peaceful society took intricate coordination between many players, and IOM looked to the United Nations and the coordinator's office for leadership.

One of the important elements of response was timing. The Kosovo crisis had illustrated the need to be ready for vast and complex crises. One of the lessons that was drawn from Kosovo by IOM was to establish a post-emergency unit. It was now in operation in East Timor. These different groups worked for the same aims, and the appeals launched this week deserved attention and a generous response.

ANNE BAUER, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said the Secretary- General on numerous occasions had highlighted the need to address, in emergencies, the transition from relief to rehabilitation and development. It should be recalled that this was part of the theme of last summer's Economic and Social Council meeting in Geneva. It reflected a growing acknowledgement among UN Member States of the cost effectiveness, not only of initiating early rehabilitation initiatives in a crisis situation whenever and wherever possible, but also of the importance of preventing them.

It was believed that the FAO was particularly well-placed to contribute to this as it was the only UN specialized agency with responsibilities for raising levels of nutrition, for food production systems and agriculture, and for operating in the whole range of interventions from early warning and emergency relief, through rehabilitation and long-term recovery. When it was considered that the majority of those affected by disasters and emergencies throughout the world were rural communities, FAO's mandate was clearly highly relevant to the objective of the programmes contained in the UN Consolidated Appeals.

JEAN DANIEL TAUXE, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said conflicts, old and new, had erupted around the world this year. The list was long. It appeared that in 1999, a crisis had erupted wherever it was feared. This compelled the ICRC to be present in 60 operational contexts, including 20 open conflicts and 40 escalating situations which had the potential to become open conflicts. The situation could change even more suddenly in 2000.

Throughout 1999, the ICRC had tried to respond to a succession of crises which, although well-documented, had an element of unpredictability. These, among other factors, had led to budget increases. The increased budget did not reflect a change in the nature of the ICRC's activities; it reflected an expansion of its activities. Even after the ending of violence, major programmes would have to be put in place to sustain peace and to push forward with reconstruction. In the coming year, there was concern about the deterioration of security conditions, both for humanitarian workers and for the people they sought to help. With the North Atlantic Treaty Organization intervention in Kosovo, a so-called humanitarian war had emerged. To be equal to this challenge, the ICRC must stress its impartiality to all people in need of help, irrespective of nationality or ethnicity.

MARGARETA WAHLSTROM, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said she would reflect on two challenges for the future -- the need for longer-term planning, and the need for cooperative planning within the organizational mandates. Given that the absolute numbers of vulnerable people were growing, and it was known that the period of time they needed to be assisted had been extended over the past decade, perhaps many of the forgotten people were not those who were excluded from immediate emergency relief, but those who were forgotten after the initial life-saving effort. Emergency response skills had been developed in the past years, yet there might have been a temptation to see this response as a solution, rather than a temporary alleviation of human suffering, which would require a continued and perhaps ever-increasing effort over time.

While it was recognized that some operations received disproportionate funding in comparison to others, that should not be the definition of the forgotten people. The challenge was to ensure that through competent cooperation, groups of forgotten people were not created, and to constantly challenge the view of who benefited from assistance. Perhaps even more importantly, donor agencies and governments should be encouraged to take a longer-term view to emergency funding to help deal with chronic long-term emergency problems that either preceded or followed disasters.

JOEL McCLELLAN, Standing Committee on Humanitarian Response (SCHR), said a number of delegations had referred to the need of more NGO participation in the Consolidated Appeals process. In the past, it appeared that the process was a fundraising tool for each of the agencies. If you looked at the statistics today, neither donors nor agencies looked to the process as the major way to raise funds. The fact was, very few of the NGOs involved in humanitarian affairs wanted to use the process to raise funds.

However, operational workers were now supporting the process that provided a framework to ensure the donations be spent in the field. Such a framework would measure donor support, and would focus on the meeting of need instead of agency mandates. This launch gave a high profile and unified approach that had not been seen in the past. Now, NGOs were becoming more interested. Given their wide presence in the field, as well as its links with local civil society, it was obvious that NGOs with the Consolidated Appeals process could provide real added value. But if there was to be more of an inclusive process that took into account NGOs field service experience, work still needed to be done. Often, the UN country team received most of the funds. A system of representation that tapped into the field experience of NGOs was needed. The process must be field driven, but in practice it did not always work that way. Frequently, it was seen that money raised by the Consolidated Appeals process had been taken out by decisions that were made in Geneva and New York.

Discussion

The representative of France said the Government was very interested in these discussions. The crises faced by the world this year showed how necessary it was for States, the UN, its agencies, and the NGOs to work together to bring assistance to victims of the humanitarian crises. France wanted to know which were the most urgent priorities so the Government could be informed and could prioritize. It was very aware of the situation in Africa. The international community must assume its responsibilities all the way through, from conflict prevention to economic development.

The representative of the European Commission said the Commission was concerned that some parts of Africa were forgotten, judging from donor coverage in 1999. The Commission acknowledged the increasing success of the Consolidated Appeals process. It was pleased with the initial progress in 1999 in four important areas: coordination; incorporation to secure relief workers; closing the gap between relief and development; and taking a more holistic approach.

The representative of Canada said his country had applauded the Secretary- General for his tenacious work in this area. It was pleased in the progress of the Consolidated Appeals process this year. It encouraged further improvements, particularly in reporting results and evaluating effectiveness of programmes. Recent attacks on the UN and associated personnel were horrific. It must not be forgotten that people were at the centre of humanitarian conflicts and disasters. They should be given consideration long before political considerations were thought of.

The representative of Sweden said the quality of the Consolidated Appeals Process had improved. The priorities were more clearly spelled out, as were the responsibilities of the different agencies. Features such as human rights and peace-building had tended to be underfunded. There were some questions. What was the bottom line for programmes to be launched? What could be done by a sector or an agency that received less than 10 per cent of requested funds? Sweden noted with interest that the operation in East Timor was being presented as a possible future model, and eagerly awaited the outcome of that operation.

The representative of Japan said there were two issues that needed to be considered: whether it was appropriate to include NGOs within the Consolidated Appeals process, as if they were part of the organizations; and even if that were agreed, there needed to be a criteria established about how an NGO could be included.

The representative of Argentina asked if something should be done to mobilize the resources of a country like Argentina.

* *** *