PRESS BRIEFING ON LAUNCH OF 'HUMANITARIAN ACTION IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY'

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING ON LAUNCH OF 'HUMANITARIAN ACTION IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY'

The launch of the report "Humanitarian Action in the 21st Century" today demonstrated the international humanitarian community's shared commitment and enthusiasm for improving the way it responded to emergencies, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, a.i., Carolyn McAskie told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

The publication -- a joint endeavour of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) -- also marked the first time that all the heads of relief agencies had come together to share their common vision of humanitarian action in the 21st century, Ms. McAskie said.

Established by the General Assembly in 1991 to coordinate humanitarian assistance, the IASC brought together the principle United Nations agencies involved in disaster and emergency response with non-United Nations agencies, she said. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) -- one of its 16 members -- had taken the lead in preparing the report.

At the beginning of the new millennium, the IASC felt that it should publish a special message, Ms. McAskie said. The report was a compilation of that message and publicized not only the tremendous emergencies that the agencies worked in, but also the extent to which the international humanitarian community was committed to working together to address those emergencies.

Paul Grossrieder, Director-General of the ICRC, also present at the briefing, said that at the turn of the new century it was essential that the ICRC and other agencies, non-governmental organization consortia and the United Nations worked together in facing new challenges. That was one of the reasons that the ICRC had been so active in producing the report. It was also symbolic that the ICRC had taken the lead role in the project, because its founder, Henry Dunant, had also been the creator of the nineteenth century concept of humanitarian work.

At the juncture of two centuries, the international humanitarian community faced not only globalization and the technological revolution, but also increased societal fragmentation, regionalization and political and religious fanaticism, Mr. Grossrieder said. That contradictory trend was causing new disasters, conflicts and violence. The spirit of the publication was symbolized by the fact that each organization included a mission statement at the beginning of its contribution.

Also noteworthy was the fact that the publication contained contributions from both emergency organizations and development organizations, Mr. Grossrieder said. The report signaled the importance of transitional periods from emergency assistance to development work. Unless accompanied by political and development initiatives, humanitarian organizations were very limited in what they could do.

Ms. McAskie said that the launching of the report served as a reminder that the end of the 20th century had seen unprecedented growth in humanitarian emergencies. The number, scale and complexity of natural disasters had continued to increase in an upward trend. "This is one growth industry that you do not want to be a growth industry", she said.

Moreover, humanitarian organizations had the dual role of preparing for new emergencies, while at the same time managing ongoing disasters, she said. One of the difficulties that the agencies faced was the fact that although a disaster was no longer in the headlines, it did not go away. "It is important to remember that each disaster is not just a new disaster but an additional one", she said.

The organizations and agencies represented in the book were continually struggling to find ways to adapt to new conflicts while continuing to find resources to manage ongoing conflicts, Ms. McAskie said. Finding the resources to match needs was a constant struggle. "There is no way that we are meeting the needs of all of the people", she said.

It was important to remember that the first line of response in crisis was people and communities themselves, Ms. McAskie added. The international community really just supported their efforts. Local communities provided the first response. Although the international effort was a part of that response, it could be a stronger part. The media played an important role because it could continue to bring the issues in front of the public. "Not just today's hot issue, but all the ongoing crises", she said.

Would you say that the report was one of the most important things that the IASC had done since it was established? a correspondent asked.

The IASC's most important work was what it did to make the system work better, Ms. McAskie said. The report was, however, the most public effort the IASC had taken to publicize its work. She was not sure whether the report would become an annual publication. One thing was certain, however -- the IASC would not wait until the twenty-second century. Whether the publication would be done on an annual basis would be given serious thought. A future report would have a specific theme and would explain what the agencies were doing to respond to a particular type of crisis.

What would make the publication a success? a correspondent asked. Making the link that the humanitarian community was very complex and large, she responded. "When we talk about the international humanitarian community, we are talking about governments, funding and receiving, United Nations agencies and non- United Nations agencies and people themselves", she said. Most important was the recognition that hundreds of millions of people had been affected and millions of lives had been saved.

* *** *