5 May 2008: The Final Report on the Global Symposium +5 on Information for Humanitarian Action, held last October in Geneva was released today.  This report is the result of the insights and expertise of more than 300 participants who took part in what was the largest and most diverse ever collaboration of humanitarian information professionals, and a milestone in building the community of practice on humanitarian information and knowledge.  

29 April 2008: The UN Under Secretary General, Mr John Holmes, was today appointed Coordinator of a new Task Force on Global Food Crisis established by the Secretary-General. He will be deputised by the UN System Influenza Coordinator David Nabarro.

7 April 2008: The Report of the UN Climate Change Conference that took place in Bali last December is now available.

2 April 2008: Mr. John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (USG) and Emergency Relief Coordinator will arrive in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on 5 April 2008 to begin a six-day mission to the Gulf region. The purpose of his visit is to strengthen collaboration and partnership between Gulf States and the United Nations in addressing humanitarian issues worldwide.   Mr. Holmes, will travel with Mr. Abdul Aziz Muhammad Arrukban, the Special Humanitarian Envoy for the Secretary General. The USG will visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar. The two will meet with government officials, senior representatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Red Crescent Societies to encourage their active support of UN humanitarian activities. Mr. Holmes will also give the keynote speech at the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid & Development (DIHAD) Conference on Tuesday 8 April.

17 March 2008: Civil-Military Guidelines & Reference for Complex Emergencies is the first collection of core humanitarian instruments developed by the United Nations (UN) and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) on civil-military relationship in complex emergencies. Its goal is to help promote respect for international law, standards and principles in these situations. The Booklet is published by OCHA as the ‘custodian’ of civil-military guidelines and reference endorsed by the IASC. IASC materials reflect common positions held widely across a diverse range of international humanitarian actors.

11 February 2008:  In order to assist the governments of Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe to respond to floods that have destroyed thousands of homes, devastated crops and left some 449,000 people in immediate need of humanitarian relief, the international humanitarian community is seeking nearly US$89 million.  "The governments have done an excellent job and they urgently need the support of the international community to ensure that all those displaced by the floods receive the food, shelter, water, medicine and other basic necessities they require to survive", said USG/ERC John Holmes.

Read more:  OCHA Press Release

01 February 2008:  USG/ERC John Holmes has announced an allocation of USD104.3 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to enable aid agencies to carry out critical life-saving programmes in fifteen countries during the first months of 2008.  Mr. Holmes stated that the generous support from donors each year to the CERF enables the gap to be filled in the humanitarian response and provides assistance to the most vulnerable.

Read more:  OCHA Press Release  |  CERF Website