Statement by Mr Marwan Jilani of the IFRC delegation to the United States, at the Meetings Devoted to the Follow-Up to the International Year of Volunteers and the Commemoration of Its Tenth Anniversary, Plenary Session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York
Mr President,
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) welcomes this debate on the occasion of the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers. The IFRC further welcomes the adoption of the resolution on this item and the launch of the first State of the World’s Volunteerism Report.
Worldwide, our 187 member National Societies are taking volunteering development more seriously than ever before, establishing good volunteer management systems and conducting research to better understand the value and needs of our volunteers. The IFRC would like to express its appreciation to UN member states for acknowledging, in the resolution adopted this morning, the efforts of the IFRC to promote volunteering throughout its global network.
The resolution adopted this morning also made reference to the Global Volunteer Conference held in Budapest in September 2011. As one of the main highlights of this anniversary year, the Conference, co-hosted by United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and IFRC, brought together participants from civil society, the Red Cross Red Crescent, academia, governments and the private sector to discuss – and celebrate – the value of volunteers. The final declaration from the Conference contains several action points, including calling on governments to recognize the economic and social value of volunteering and to provide an enabling environment for volunteers. The declaration also calls on the research community to intensify study of the value and impact of volunteering.
The launch of the first State of the World’s Volunteerism Report this morning is a welcome addition to the body of knowledge on volunteering. The report also echoes many of the recommendations of the Global Volunteer Conference, such as the need to measure volunteering to inform better policy and practice.
During the tenth anniversary year in 2011, the IFRC has added to the knowledge on volunteering by producing a report on the economic and social value of our volunteers in January, and more recently in November, a report on the under-researched topic of volunteering in emergencies. [1]
Volunteers have been critical actors in many recent contexts, such as Haiti, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Japan and the Horn of Africa region, but volunteers have also faced many dangers and obstacles.
The Volunteering in Emergencies report advocates for a number of actions to help protect, promote, and recognize volunteers, such as ensuring that volunteers have appropriate training and equipment, providing insurance to volunteers who risk injury or their lives, providing safe access to all vulnerable groups, integrating volunteer capacity into domestic emergency response plans and reviewing existing laws and addressing gaps in legislation related to volunteers.
Mr President,
We know that volunteers boost community resilience, strengthen sustainable development and extend our reach to the most vulnerable in society. Over the past ten years we have produced a clear picture of further actions needed to better protect, promote, and recognize volunteers. Let us now focus on implementing these recommendations. The IFRC reassures you of our commitment to fostering a culture of volunteering in society.
Working with respective public authorities our member National Societies will continue to create and maintain an enabling environment for volunteering and will work specifically to implement the resolution on Volunteering Development adopted at the 31st International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent held in Geneva last week.
In closing, I would like to leave you with words of one volunteer of the Egyptian Red Crescent, “volunteering gives me the confidence to make a change and to contribute to improving my community. It helps me get closer to the people and their needs, … volunteering has taught me to freely express myself, to respect our differences and to build on commonalities. It gives me the satisfaction that I seek in my life and the energy to sustain it”.
Thank you.
[1] The report entitled “The value of volunteers: Imagine how many needs would go unanswered without volunteers” and the report entitled “Protect. Promote. Recognize. Volunteering in Emergencies” are available at www.ifrc.org