Last
year, when speaking at this Commission, the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) spoke of the
profound interest we and our worldwide network of Red Cross
/ Red Crescent National Societies have in the vulnerability
issues which surround the reduction of government expenditure
on and involvement in health and social sectors.
This is true in an increasing number of countries, and our purpose
was to draw attention to the simultaneous urgency of building
the capacity of communities to share the burden which government
withdrawal may create.
My purpose today is to show how the issue arises very directly
in contexts beyond the normal scope of this Commission. And
to show how it is one which needs to be mainstreamed into the
thinking and planning of the United Nations family more broadly.
We also want to ensure that consideration of the implementation
of the World Summit for Social Development needs to take account
of the contributions communities themselves make to sustainable
economic and social development.
The World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR), which was
held in Kobe, Hyogo (Japan) from 18 to 22 January this year
emphasised disaster risk reduction and community resilience
and the prominence they have in programmes to eradicate poverty
and promote development.
There was a great deal of substantial exchange in plenary debates,
parallel events, panels and workshops on the priority which
all governments and their partners at national and international
levels need to give to ensuring that communities are equipped
to handle the multiple emergency responsibilities which arise
when a disaster strikes.
Debate was reinforced by examples of suffering but also community
courage from the Asian earthquakes and tsunamis of 26 December
2004, where thousands of our youth volunteers worked day and
night to save lives.
The consequence, which we emphasise here in this Commission,
is that the participants at the WCDR clearly recognised the
importance of building local capacity so that it could work
alongside government authorities in preparing for and responding
to disasters. Taking it further, and directly into the agenda
of this Commission, the WCDR Hyogo Declaration recognises the
intrinsic relationship between disaster reduction, sustainable
development and the eradication of poverty.
In other words, disaster reduction and preparedness needs to
be fitted into development planning, both because of what it
means for national and community development and because of
the savings of life and property which good preparedness brings.
The Hyogo Declaration was very clear about this. The Hyogo Framework
of Action, which was adopted at the Conference is even more
specific, and includes a number of objectives, which should
receive the attention of this Commission and all other relevant
bodies in the UN system.
I won't go through them in detail in this intervention, but
we will be bringing relevant paragraphs to attention in other
Commissions and conferences with a view to promoting concrete
action at ECOSOC. One example of a recommendation highly relevant
to this Commission is a Key Activity relevant to volunteers
and their contribution.
This activity, in paragraph 18 (ii) (l) of the Framework, contains
the agreement of States to "promote community-based training
initiatives considering the role of volunteers as appropriate
to enhance local capacities to mitigate and cope with disasters".
This Activity and its setting in the WCDR Outcomes shows clearly
to us another connection of relevance - that to the Millennium
Development Goals. Our experience shows, for example, that all
training initiatives need to be founded on much stronger attention
to MDG 2 and Universal Primary Education.
They also depend on the utilisation of the full human resource
base of the communities themselves, which means that there must
be a parallel program of gender empowerment, and there must
be no discrimination of any kind. And once more, the power,
the creativity and the social engagement of the youth - and
other groups - must be utilised.
This is why the outcome of the WCDR fits so well into programmes
designed to implement the World Summit on Social Development.
Chair,
There is much more we could have said on this vital topic, but
time does not permit. We close this statement with the hope
that the political commitment necessary for the implementation
of the Hyogo Declaration will be available.
This Commission provides one of the first opportunities for
the UN to state that commitment, but we will be taking this
message to all relevant Commissions. We also anticipate that
many of our National Red Cross and Red Crescent Society members
will bring this message to their Governments in the course of
their normal dialogue as auxiliaries to their public authorities
in the humanitarian field.
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