About Us
Saturday, November 21, 2009   
 Regional Office for the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia Minimize

Regional Context
The Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia feature a diverse range of humanitarian concerns. There are a number of complex, protracted conflict situations in the region, including Iraq, Afghanistan and the occupied Palestinian territory. In recent years, these have resulted in massive population displacements; there are an estimated 2.2 million internally displaced persons (the highest concentrations in Iraq and Afghanistan) and more than 9.3 million refugees primarily from the occupied Palestinian territory, Iraq, Afghanistan and Western Sahara.

Countries in the region are also prone to natural and man-made disasters, including earthquakes, floods, landslides, cyclones industrial accidents and oil spills. Central Asia is one of the most seismically active areas in the world, and floods, landslides, extreme cold and drought regularly cause vast economic and environmental damage.

  

The office aims to: 

  •  Strengthen capacity of national counterparts and the UN system in disaster prone/affected countries in the region within the domain of natural disaster and emergency preparedness and response;
  •  Increase interface between international emergency responders in the region and multilateral mechanisms;
  •  Strengthen humanitarian partnerships and networks in the region;
  •  Improve humanitarian decision making and response through more coherent and sharpened advocacy and information management; and
  •  Promote multilateral donor coordination and resource mobilization mechanisms.

 

Where we work
ROMENACA provides humanitarian coordination support to 27 countries and territories. It is based in Dubai, with oversight for the office of the Regional Disaster Response Advisor for Central Asia and the Regional Pandemic Influenza Contingency hub for the Middle East and North Africa (based in Cairo). In addition to these offices, OCHA has field presences in oPt, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

 

To read more about the activities of the Regional Office for the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, click here.

To read more about the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs click here .

For more information on OCHA's activities, visit OCHA On-line.

What we do
Since its establishment in 2005, OCHA’s Regional Office for the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia (ROMENACA) has sought to minimize the vulnerability of populations in the region to humanitarian crises. ROMENACA provides support and assistance to governments, UN agencies, NGOs and other humanitarian actors in response to a number of crises, including through the deployment staff with a range of technical expertise. The Regional Office also works to build response capacity in the region before disasters strike, by strengthening Emergency Preparedness.

Office Main Services and Functionals
  
 A Brief History of OCHA Minimize

 

In December 1991, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 46/182, designed to strengthen the United Nation's response to both complex emergencies and natural disasters.  In addition it aimed at improving the overall effectiveness of the UN's humanitarian operations in the field.

 

The resolution also created the high level position of Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC).  This new function would combine into a single UN focal point the functions carried out by representatives of the Secretary-General for major and complex emergencies, as well as the UN's natural disaster functions carried out by the UN Disaster Relief Coordinator, UNDRO.


Soon after, the Secretary-General established the Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA) and assigned the ERC the status of Under-Secretary-General (USG) for Humanitarian Affairs with offices in New York and Geneva to provide institutional support.

Resolution 46/182 also created the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), the Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) and the Central Emergency Revolving Fund (CERF) as key coordination mechanisms and tools of the ERC.

 

As part of the Secretary-General's programme of reform in 1998, DHA was reorganized into the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA.  Its mandate was expanded to include the coordination of humanitarian response, policy development and humanitarian advocacy.

 

OCHA carries out its coordination function primarily through the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, which is chaired by the ERC.  Participants include all humanitarian partners, from UN agencies, funds and programmes to the Red Cross Movement and NGOs. The IASC ensures inter-agency decision-making in response to complex emergencies.  These responses include needs assessments, consolidated appeals, field coordination arrangements and the development of humanitarian policies.

 

Emergency Relief Coordinator

The functions of the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) are focused in three core areas:

(a) policy development and coordination functions in support of the Secretary-General, ensuring that all humanitarian issues, including those which fall between gaps in existing mandates of agencies such as protection and assistance for internally displaced persons, are addressed;

(b) advocacy of humanitarian issues with political organs, notably the Security Council; and

(c) coordination of humanitarian emergency response, by ensuring that an appropriate response mechanism is established, through Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) consultations, on the ground.

 

John Holmes of Britian was appointed by the Secretary-General to replace Jan Egeland of  Norway as Under-

 

Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.  Mr. Holmes took up his post in March 2007.

 

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This website was developed with the assistance of Thematic Funding from the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission in 2004 and 2005