President,
We at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) see the Humanitarian Segment as filling very important space - the one between the aspirations of the Ministers at the High Level and the operations managers. The task of the Humanitarian Segment is to bring together aspirations and practical realities. In other words, to assist both the international organisation's community and Member States as they work together in the most dangerous, difficult and challenging situations.
The straightforward message of the IFRC and its member Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies everywhere in the world is that there is no situation too dangerous, too difficult or too challenging when humanitarian assistance is required.
There are, however, many situations which cannot be satisfactorily or adequately addressed through what the United Nations sees as traditional channels for the provision and delivery of humanitarian assistance. This is where we and our members add real value, especially because our mobilisation power extends through national levels to the most vulnerable communities themselves.
Because of the strength of our network, we are also able to bring to the international level a clear understanding of the vulnerabilities and real priorities of communities and, alongside that, to offer a way to help those communities build the capacity required for the design and implementation of assistance programs.
This is one of the planks which builds our structure of co-operation with the international community, and which adds value to the work of the UN system for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
President,
It is against this background that we are offering a few comments on the valuable report submitted by the Secretary-General for consideration during this Segment. It is our hope that these comments will also be noted by Member States and taken into account as they plan their own national strategies - either as prospective donors of humanitarian assistance or as countries, which need that assistance.
Our view, for some years now, has been that the international community must do more to meet the needs of the most vulnerable. This is not contested. In fact it was wholeheartedly supported by all States and National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies when they met together in their 28th International Conference in December 2003.
At that Conference they adopted an Agenda for Humanitarian Action, in which General Objective 3 commits all, working together, to "minimise the impact of disasters through implementation of disaster risk reduction measures and improving preparedness and response mechanisms".
This is why we are pleased to see the priority given to vulnerability assessments in the Report. We are also particularly pleased by the recognition, which has been given to HIV/AIDS interventions in the context of the interrelationship of humanitarian problems.
For too long there has been a tendency to deal with each problem separately, but the processes now in place - which have been strongly encouraged by Mr. Egeland since he took up his post as Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs - have done much to bring international organisations to understand that only a common menu can meet the humanitarian needs of today.
The need for mapping hazards and vulnerabilities, which is emphasised in the Secretary-General's Report, is another part of this co-ordination process which we welcome. It matches the work we do with National Societies in the preparation of our Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments.
Our work to help build understanding of and improve implementation of international disaster response laws, rules and principles (IDRL) should be seen within this broad mapping agenda. It has been our view for some years that an understanding of the applicable law is absolutely necessary to the efficient and timely management of disaster situations.
We were very pleased to see recognition of this point in the Secretary-General's Report. We hope to provide a fuller account of the work we have done, including with Member States and relevant international organisations, at the United Nations General Assembly later this year.
President,
The Report's section on Natural Disasters places welcome emphasis on building capacities for disaster preparedness and response. The experiences of the Iranian Red Crescent Society are noted, and I am delighted that it will be possible for ECOSOC members to learn from those experiences directly when Mr Mostafa Mohaghegh speaks as a panellist on 13 July.
He will, of course, be speaking for his National Society and its work at the time, and I would only wish to say that Bam illustrates well another point worth making. It is that when a disaster captures the attention of the world's media, assistance flows freely. Once the media moves on, the disaster's importance recedes and the assistance slows. All governments and organisations must find new ways of building resources, which cater for vulnerabilities and needs when the media is not present. There are too many examples of media-driven programmes for any donor in this room to feel comfortable.
The other main lesson we would wish to take from Bam and our experience as the world's largest humanitarian network is that our preparedness work, and our support for the capacity-building work of the Iranian Red Crescent, was critical to the saving of lives and the protection of the most vulnerable people.
This experience, as the Secretary-General's Report notes, was equally true for the Moroccan Red Crescent during the terrible earthquake in that country. Their preparedness included, as an absolutely vital component, the training of volunteers in the localities ultimately affected.
It is our sincere hope that ECOSOC and all Member States will recognise the importance of volunteer contributions in all disaster situations. We hope it will be possible for this contribution to be addressed more squarely in the years ahead, perhaps especially in 2005 when the world reviews five years since the International Year of Volunteers.
The IFRC will be bringing these points forward in its work with other Agencies, especially through our role as a standing invitee in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee. The IASC and its various working groups and task forces is mentioned many times in the Secretary-General's Report, and we see it as a particularly valuable forum for the co-ordination of humanitarian assistance.
In our view the relevance of IASC has become more focussed on true vulnerability in recent years, and we are particularly pleased that it has started to make significant contributions in improving co-ordination of humanitarian disaster response. The IFRC co-chairs this important Task Force with OCHA. The Task Force will be jointly undertaking 5 to 6 pilot projects in the year ahead to review the disaster response capacity of IASC agencies and organisations, enabling the Task Force to address systemic IASC issues.
Furthermore, the IFRC is a member of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Disaster Reduction (IATF/DR) which is managed by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).
We feel strongly that disasters break down the resilience and coping mechanisms of communities and individuals, undermining efforts to reduce poverty and contribute to sustainable development as well as an improved quality of life. The benefits, and more particularly the cost-effectiveness of disaster reduction and preparedness have been clearly demonstrated.
The contributions of substance that disaster risk reduction provides will be supported in January 2005 at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan. We are working closely with the Japanese Red Cross Society and the organisers with a strong interest in the subject. We trust this conference will add substantively to our work for strong local and national capacity to deal with disasters, to reduce risk and strengthen resilience, with sustainability as a primary goal.
President,
The IFRC strongly believes that the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, with its emphasis on the partnership of governmental and non-governmental institutions, including communities themselves and the private sector, shows the way all humanitarian activities should be managed. We and our members work this way ourselves, using our bridging role to bring together every community towards the goals of reducing the loss of lives, the socio-economic setbacks and the environmental damages caused by natural hazards.
As we have already said in the High Level Segment of this Session, and through the statement of my colleague the President of the American Red Cross in the Operational Segment, these partnerships are vital for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, just as they are central to our own work.
Before closing, I want to underline the seriousness with which the IFRC views the present situation in Sudan, and in neighbouring Chad. Although that situation is one for which our sister organisation the ICRC has the lead role in our Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, we are trying to ensure that the national Societies of the two countries are able to work at maximum capacity in these desperate circumstances. Because of that the IFRC President Mr. Juan Manuel Suarez del Toro Rivero, is visiting the region now.
We look forward to the adoption of a strong and focussed resolution on the strengthening of humanitarian assistance and disaster reduction, and to working with Member States and international organisations to produce results of real value to the people from Darfur to Afghanistan, and from Chernobyl to Eastern Congo who expect us to serve their needs while we are talking in this room.