19 August 2015

Crises are piling on the pressure

Source(s): United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (with microphone) during a debate in Geneva on World Humanitarian Day with (from left) Nan Buzard, Executive Director ICVA; Elhadj As Sy, Secretary-General of the IFRC; moderator Espen Barth Eide, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum; Peter Maurer, President of the ICRC; and Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (Photo: UNISDR)

Geneva, 19 August 2015 – The global aid sector is facing massive pressure as it tries to deal with the fallout from crises around the globe and the resulting financial strains, senior international officials said here today as they marked World Humanitarian Day.

“Our capacity to deal with crises is under pressure,” said Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, during a panel discussion at the United Nations in Geneva.

Part of the problem, she said, is the complex nature of many crisis situations. Natural hazards, including those stoked by climate change, can mesh together with poverty, breakneck urbanization and other factors to create a cocktail of often long-lasting conflict.

“The lines between so-called emergency response and long-term response is getting blurred,” said Mr. Elhadj As Sy, Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Dealing with interlocking risks is a key goal of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, adopted by the international community in March. It seeks to achieve substantial reductions in disaster-related mortality and economic losses, which can undermine development gains repeatedly and stoke strife.

The Sendai Framework tallies with the sustainable development goals – known formally as Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – which are due to be adopted by global leaders at a UN summit next month in New York. The agenda comprises 17 interlinked goals that aim, by 2030, to eradicate extreme poverty, promote prosperity and people's well-being, while protecting the environment.

“The idea of the sustainable development goals is that no one should be left behind. So we need to make sure that those in crisis are included,” said Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

“If we go with business as usual, we’ll have more and more situations like those we’re facing today,” he warned.

Conflict-related operations rightly draw a considerable share of humanitarian funding, but a far smaller proportion goes to tackling the impact of natural hazards, and even less on efforts to reduce disaster risk before a hazard strikes.

“Governments need to provide an enabling environment for mitigation,” said Ms. Wahlström. The international community also needs to act, she added, saying: “Our main challenge at the inter-governmental level is a continued fragmentation that is strongly played out in financing mechanisms.”

The number of people targeted through the UN’s coordinated humanitarian appeals has risen from 76 million in December 2014 to over 82 million, with 37 countries affected. Total requirements are US$19.7 billion, but only around a third of that sum has been received so far.

Fifty-six percent of funding is for the emergencies in Iraq, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

World Humanitarian Day is held every 19 August, marking the date in 2003 when UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 20 members of his staff were killed when their hotel was bombed in Iraq.

Tragically, aid workers have continued to lay down their lives in the line of duty, as they try to help people caught up in conflict but find themselves targeted in the process – but their deaths make fewer and fewer headlines.

“We have to put a halt to this indifference,” said Mr. Sy.