Thank you Mr. President,
I have the honour to introduce, on behalf of the sponsors, a draft resolution on the strengthening of the co-ordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations, contained in document A/61/L.46.
Mr. President,
Since the origin of this resolution at the 46th Session of the General Assembly in 1992, and through the subsequent establishment of the Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN’s emergency response capacity has been strengthened considerably. Operational agencies—such as World Food Programme, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and UNICEF—continue to respond rapidly and effectively in humanitarian relief. OCHA and the mechanisms for inter-agency coordination, such as the Inter-Agency Standing Committee and the Executive Committee for Humanitarian Affairs, have enhanced coordination between the humanitarian organisations of the UN and with non-UN partners. Significant challenges remain, however, both in implementation of important principles for humanitarian assistance as well as in issues related to humanitarian funding and coordination. The draft resolution before us today contributes to further progress in the strengthening of the coordination of the UN humanitarian system.
I should like to announce that, since the draft resolution was tabled before the Assembly, the following countries have become co-sponsors:
My delegation is grateful for the improvements made in the text by colleagues through a series of informal consultations and would like to thank the sponsors and other delegations for the good and constructive spirit of co-operation and partnership in which the consultations were held. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the ambassador of Luxemburg, Jean-Marc Hoscheit, for ably guiding our work.
Mr President,
The draft resolution addresses both issues of principle for humanitarian protection and assistance, as well as issues related to efforts to further strengthen international humanitarian response.
In the first category, and for the first time in the history of this resolution, we recognize gender based violence as a growing concern in humanitarian emergencies. The resolution urges all States to take effective measures to address gender based violence and encourages organisations of the United Nations to strengthen their support services to victims.
I would also like to highlight that the draft reaffirms the principles of neutrality, humanity, impartiality and independence for the provisions of humanitarian assistance, and calls upon Governments and parties in complex humanitarian emergencies to co-operate fully with the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies and organisations to ensure the safe and unhindered access to affected populations.
It expresses the General Assembly's grave concern at violence deliberately directed against civilian populations in many emergency situations. It calls upon States to adopt preventive measures and effective responses to acts of violence against civilian populations and invites States to promote a culture of protection.
Regarding humanitarian funding and coordination, the main issue is to consolidate the three-pillar agenda of humanitarian reform - to strengthen humanitarian response capacities, to improve humanitarian coordination, and to enhance predictable and adequate funding.
To build strong UN leadership at the field level and support country ownership and cooperation, efforts to strengthen the Humanitarian Coordinator need to be intensified. The resolution encourages OCHA to continue its efforts to strengthen the co-ordination of humanitarian action and calls upon relevant humanitarian actors to strengthen the humanitarian response capacity at all levels, the coordination at the field level and to enhance transparency, performance and accountability. The resolution also encourages the United Nations to pursue recent efforts to strengthen partnership with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and humanitarian NGO:s.
Humanitarian funding remains crucial to ensure adequate UN response capacity, and there has been progress in developing a more coherent approach. The resolution calls for further development of the consolidated appeals process as an instrument for strategic planning and prioritization. It also emphasizes the need to mobilize adequate resources for humanitarian assistance with a view to ensuring more equitable distribution across humanitarian emergencies as well as fuller coverage of the needs in all sectors.
Last year in this resolution, Member States decided to upgrade the Central Emergency Revolving Fund into a Central Emergency Response Fund. It was the first concrete manifestation of the overall UN reform process after the World Summit, meeting unanimous approval. Sweden was an early believer but few could have predicted the enormous success of this Fund. Who would have expected funding from no fewer than 67 Member States, some of them humanitarian donors for the first time? The ambitious target for the first year of operations was 250 million dollars and the fund reached 298 million dollars. Last week donors already pledged the impressive amount of 345 million dollars for 2007. Sweden’s contribution to the CERF for 2007 will also increase - from this year’s 41 million dollars to more than 50 million dollars. The resolution welcomes the establishment of the CERF, urges all Member States to consider making voluntary contributions to the Fund and reaffirms our common funding target of US$500 million by 2008!
My delegation and the co-sponsors hope that the draft resolution contained in document A/61/L.46 can be adopted by consensus.
Thank you Mr. President