Humanitarian Issues

The environment where humanitarian action takes place is evolving rapidly and continually poses new challenges to the humanitarian community. There is increasing human vulnerability in crisis situations – both in natural disasters and in complex emergencies. OCHA’s role is to provide leadership in these situations through effective and systematic crisis management and by placing humanitarian issues at the forefront.

The last decade has seen a marked increase in the occurrence of natural disasters along with exposure to greater levels of loss of life, property and material damage. The lives of millions of civilians are at risk each time an earthquake, hurricane or other natural disaster occurs, particularly in poor countries with less developed infrastructures, high population densities and inadequate emergency preparedness.

In terms of complex emergencies, the factors contributing to human insecurity are tied to the changing nature of conflicts. Today's armed conflicts are characterized by active and deliberate targeting of civilians, including humanitarian workers, widespread human rights abuses, the use of rape and other crimes of sexual violence as brutal weapons of war, particularly against women and children, and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Forced displacement of large segments of populations is used increasingly by parties to conflict in furtherance of military objectives, including ethnic cleansing. Globally, there are twice as many conflict-induced internally displaced persons (IDPs) as refugees, while 90% of all refugees stay in their regions of origin. This has recently led to a new intolerance of refugee flows in some southern countries and bodes ill for protection in Africa. 

The suffering inflicted on innocent civilians is aggravated by restrictions on humanitarian access. Indeed, humanitarian access to aid-dependent civilian populations is often restricted or denied altogether as a political bargaining chip and means of imposing even greater suffering on civilians. There is an increasing need to re-examine approaches to security of humanitarian activities in light of the changing environment. The targeting of aid workers, which is often planned and deliberate, closes humanitarian space and jeopardizes relief programmes. In twenty current conflict zones, humanitarian access is restricted, condemning civilian populations to protracted and unmitigated suffering. The risks for civilians are exacerbated even further by the proliferation of small arms and light weapons and their illicit sale or supply to armed groups or militias via porous borders and lax regulations, combined with the attractive economies of war that control of rich natural resources offers.

The Secretary-General’s Millennium Declaration of September 2000 identified ‘Protecting the Vulnerable’ and developing a ‘Culture of Protection’ as priorities and noted the need to ‘expand and strengthen the protection of civilians in complex emergencies in conformity with international humanitarian law.’  In response, OCHA’s Policy Development and Studies Branch (PDSB) has been at the forefront of developing the policy framework for this culture of protection, in close collaboration with the Security Council, other UN departments, humanitarian partner agencies and interested Member States. Since 1999, the Secretary-General has presented three reports on the protection of civilians in armed conflict to the Security Council, which in turn, has issued two resolutions and four presidential statements. While responsibility for protection of civilians in armed conflict rests primarily with Member States and the international community, the UN family has a special role in promoting and leading the global implementation of the Secretary-General's agenda on protection and translating a collaborative approach into enhanced response and protection on the ground.

Protecting beneficiaries of assistance, and other members of the local community from sexual exploitation and abuse, is of critical concern to the humanitarian community. To this end, a number of concrete steps have been taken to ensure prevention and protection strategies are in place, and that clear channels of recourse are available for victims. OCHA has been at the forefront in developing tools and procedures to assist these goals, in its capacity as Co-Chair of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Task Force on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. Key documents include the adoption of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee's Plan of Action in 2002, and the promulgation of the Secretary-General's Bulletin on Special Measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse in 2003.

In response to the changed nature of conflict, including the increased number of non-state armed parties to conflicts, the need for structured and principled engagement of humanitarian actors with armed groups has increased markedly over the past ten years. It is indispensable in today’s conflicts to engage armed groups in a structured dialogue in order both to promote better respect for international humanitarian and human rights law and to ensure the provision of protection and humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations. PDSB has launched a project, therefore, to compile a ‘Manual of Field Practices on Humanitarian Negotiations with Armed Groups’. The objective of the Manual is to enhance the capacity of UN humanitarian agencies to engage in a principled and consistent manner with armed groups and to provide humanitarian actors with practical advice in this regard.

Sanctions are an important tool in promoting and maintaining international peace and security, and potentially protecting civilians. During the 1990’s the use of sanctions for coercive ends increased greatly within the framework of the UN system; however, their frequent use has also raised questions about their impact on civilian populations and provoked increased concern for their consequences with regard to the humanitarian situation in the targeted country or region. This concern has also become evident in the UN Security Council. The Council now regularly requests assessment reports on the humanitarian implications of current and even possible future sanction regimes. Within OCHA, PDSB was mandated to carry out these kinds of assessments and to draft the relevant reports of the Secretary-General addressed to the Security Council. Given the high profile and scrutiny of sanction assessments, a consistent approach is needed to these studies. As a result, PDSB has developed a standardized methodology for undertaking humanitarian assessments of potential negative effects of sanctions on vulnerable populations in advance of, during, or following the conclusion of sanction regimes.

In the context of complex emergencies, the transition from humanitarian to development-led response is also critical as peace is consolidated and the demand for humanitarian programmes increases (e.g. in Angola, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan). Poorly managed transitions can jeopardize the peace dividend as well as protract dependency and weaken state institutions, thereby threatening realization of the Millennium Development Goals. Transition has been a constant and evolving feature of the international agenda since 1991. The 1996 report on humanitarian coordination to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) explained that relief and development activities often proceed at the same time, each having an impact upon the other. By the late 1990’s the debate had shifted. The main concerns expressed in ECOSOC and other fora were the need to avoid funding gaps that occur as development starts to re-engage, and the need to forge stronger linkages between relief and development activities. Despite concerted efforts, the funding gap remains and linkages continue to be elusive. In transition, food aid and other life-saving interventions are comparatively better funded, while other sectors that may also provide a key bridge between relief and development, such as water, health, sanitation, agriculture, education, the rule of law and good governance, remain chronically under-funded. The UN is engaged in an inter-agency effort to improve the coherence and effectiveness of its strategies and response to transition situations in light of these lessons.

As part of its core functions, OCHA also drafts annual reports on various humanitarian issues to the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, on behalf of the Secretary-General.  The reports are divided into thematic and country specific areas.  The thematic reports deal with humanitarian assistance in the context of natural disasters and complex humanitarian emergencies.  OCHA’s principle thematic/policy report on strengthening the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations is presented to the GA through the Humanitarian Affairs Segment of ECOSOC.  This report is provided pursuant to General Assembly Resolution 46/182, which established this Office.  All reports presented by OCHA to the GA and ECOSOC are considered by Member States, who negotiate and adopt resolutions that are intended to provide guidance to the UN system’s humanitarian activities.  OCHA also provides Member States with substantive support to facilitate their negotiations processes.