ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment 2013
(Geneva, 15-17 July 2013)
Agenda item: General debate
Statement by
Mr Walter Cotte
Under Secretary General, Program Services Division
On behalf of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) welcomes the two thematic issues addressed in the Humanitarian Affairs Segment this year. Both are crucial in addressing current humanitarian issues. One of them – the need to reduce vulnerability and manage risks – particularly concerns us as this has been the core work of Red Cross and Red Crescent for decades.
It is clear that the frequency and intensity of disasters will increase in years to come, while the impact of natural events will often be exacerbated by climate change, environmental degradation, significant food and energy price volatility, population growth, and rapid and unplanned urbanisation, among others.
Traditionally, much of the humanitarian effort has focused on immediate life-saving responses to disasters or crises, but we all know that such interventions do not provide sustainable solutions.
Understanding the large spectrum of unmet needs, two days ago, the Philippines Government, ECHO, FAO, the World Bank and IFRC with the Uganda Red Cross Society gathered in a side event to examine effects of “silent disasters”.
Silent disasters are small or medium-sized, sudden or slow-onset disasters or crises. With fewer casualties than major disasters, they too often fail to capture the public attention or resources needed to provide essential support for those affected. Nevertheless, they result in catastrophic consequences on the lives and livelihoods of the individuals, families and communities affected, and threaten to erode development gains and coping capacities.
Therefore, it is necessary to change the way we “invest”. We need to focus not only on addressing the consequences of disasters but on reducing the underlying causes of vulnerabilities and enhancing the preparedness and resilience of people and communities. While traditionally, people were assisted to withstand the consequences of disaster, we should now take a new approach which invests more in building the capacities of individuals and communities to reduce their vulnerability and adapt to existing and emerging risks in normal times so that they can bounce back from crises they encounter, and hopefully improve their lives. This approach proves cost-effective as well. According to our study of costs versus benefits of investments in disaster risk reduction, for every dollar spent on disaster risk reduction, anywhere from $2 USD to $55 USD is saved. All this demonstrates that prevention saves lives and money.
This is the direction we need to go as we move forward to prevent natural hazards from becoming disasters. Reducing risks and strengthening resilience, together with food security, healthier lives, water and sanitation are the four key areas that IFRC promotes to be included in a post 2015 agenda. This agenda and its implementation for local development, should be truly owned by, and largely carried out by the people themselves. When people become more resilient and no longer live from one emergency to the next, they will be able to make choices that help them develop and grow to a point where aid will hopefully become a thing of the past.
Mr President,
The necessity of linking relief with development is not new on the discussion table. In practice, the Red Cross Red Crescent’s twin-track approach, which addresses both the short-term relief and longer-term recovery needs for livelihoods development, has for decades encouraged community ownership for local development and building resilience.
For instance, over the past 20 years, the Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers in the Darfur region have provided consistent humanitarian assistance to affected communities, shifting between emergency to development interventions, as necessary, to reflect the changing needs of the population. Programing-wise, in Darfur, early warning of floods has enabled communities to activate contingency plans. Communities are trained by volunteers to identify “triggers” and take appropriate action. In addition, various preparedness and risk reduction measures were taken through partnerships between the Sudanese Red Crescent, relevant UN agencies, NGOs, community-based organisations, and, most importantly, the communities themselves.
That being said, let me stress the three crucial “ingredients” for successful vulnerability and disaster risk reduction (DRR):
- Efficient risk management through effective legislation, both at national and local levels, vulnerability and capacity assessment, early warning and early actions, public awareness and education, and appropriate mitigation;
- Strong ownership of communities and local institutions for reducing risk and building resilience;
- Effective partnerships at all levels with a complementary and coordinated approach to maximise the effects of cooperation.
Mr President,
A wide range of partners at different levels have contributed to successful outcomes of the IFRC work in many countries. The questions of inclusiveness and partnership are becoming increasingly important in humanitarian action, and have been very prominent in this year’s ECOSOC discussions. The need to maintain a regular dialogue between Member States and humanitarian actors is of particularly importance.
In this context, I would like to mention two important initiatives.
First, the IFRC is currently collaborating with UNDP on a first-of-its-kind comparative study of legislation for disaster risk reduction in countries around the world. This study will be launched later this year and we hope it will open new avenues for improving community resilience.
Second, I would like to highlight the Disaster Response Dialogue, which was initiated in 2011 by the IFRC together with OCHA, ICVA (the International Council of Voluntary Agencies), and the Swiss Government, intended to improve trust and cooperation between disaster-prone countries and humanitarian organisations. We believe that good cooperation of all actors in disaster preparedness and response, including legal preparedness for international cooperation through IDRL, is not an option but a necessity. We hope that this dialogue will eventually contribute to more timely and effective humanitarian assistance.
I am also pleased to inform you that on 3 July WMO and IFRC signed a Memorandum of Understanding to extend cooperation and joint activities, including through the Global Framework for Climate Services, to “enable better management of the risks of climate variability and change and adaptation to climate change”.
Mr President,
Effective partnerships allow us to do better and reach more if the cooperation is with a coordinated, coherent approach and with complementarity, at all levels. Let me stress the importance of local actions. With effective local institutions, we can strengthen local program ownership and accountability and end the in-and-out approach. For the IFRC, a strong National Society is essential for the development and maintenance of programs with local communities. For instance, the Uganda Red Cross Society with support from IFRC is helping as best as they can to support local government and assist the relocation of 65,000 refugees who have fled violence in northern Democratic Republic of Congo. WFP and UNHCR are already on board and we look forward to working with more partners to provide support to the refugee population through the Uganda Red Cross.
Mr President,
IFRC designs its programmes through a holistic, integrated approach which aims to build resilience by addressing the different needs of communities and ensuring cross-sectoral complementarity. Working with and through the communities it serves, Red Cross Red Crescent increases resilience at household and community levels by working to not only reduce risk but also improve health, nutrition, education, sanitation and livelihood status and ensure coordinated and coherent programming. Resilient communities cannot be achieved solely with Red Cross Red Crescent support, but we can play an important role in facilitating support from a range of stakeholders. By combining resources and linking with other resilience-building efforts, partnerships allow more people in need to be reached. We urge local governments and the international community’s support to provide a resilient future to people at communities and make sustainable development at local level a reality.
Thank you.