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Press Release
7 October 2008
DFID Minister says UN humanitarian system must get smarter
International Development Minister Gareth Thomas today said that the world
needed to get smarter at dealing with the increasing number of floods,
hurricanes, droughts and other humanitarian crises.
Speaking in Geneva to humanitarian aid experts from the UN including UN High
Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, Gareth Thomas said that whilst there
have been improvements we are still letting too many people down when they need
help the most. This is because of lack of co-ordination and strong leadership
within the countries affected to get the job done.
The number of reported disasters over the last ten years is 60% higher than over the previous decade, and in 2006 alone there was a 40% increase in the number of global floods and natural disasters. Over half of all public appeals since 2004 for help in the wake of a disaster have been climate related.
Reflecting on these stark figures, Gareth Thomas set out his vision of the
improvements needed in order to give quicker and more effective help to people
such as the half a million caught in the cyclone in Burma five months ago.
Gareth Thomas said:
"The pressure keeps mounting on developing countries as climate change and
rising food prices take their toll, the extreme manifestation of this being the
increasing number of humanitarian crises.
"One of the major problems is that many country-based UN country based
humanitarian co-coordinators don’t have the skills or right background to do
their jobs.
"What's more alarming is increasing lack of UN co-coordinators. Of the 42 poor
countries most at risk of conflict or natural disaster, 16 do not have
humanitarian coordinators and in some of the worst humanitarian emergencies the
international system does not have a leader on the ground able to drive the
emergency response."
Gareth Thomas went on to say:
"If the current pattern of rising climate related disasters continues, by 2010
we will need at double the current number of UN humanitarian co-coordinators. We
need to work harder to get the right people into these roles early enough, keep
them there and make them accountable – these people are the lynchpins to the
whole humanitarian effort when crises happen."
Gareth Thomas also said that in some cases bureaucracy was getting in the way of
helping people, such as in the case of the Chad refugee crisis last year.
"What we saw in Chad was potentially life saving assistance such as clean
drinking water being allocated unfairly. This was counter to basic humanitarian
principles and is something that cannot happen again – I urge the UN to work
with charities working in the field to agree on one system that works."
"We also need to work harder to make sure the funds given to the UN by
governments, charities and indeed the public for disaster relief appeals are
released in a faster and more user friendly way for people running projects on
the ground, whilst protecting the high level of scrutiny that we have. Some
projects are able to get up and running in a matter of days whilst other are
critically delayed."
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Gareth Thomas went on to pay tribute to the fantastic work that has been
carried out to save the lives of millions in disasters such as the Mozambique
floodings in 2007.
"There’s no doubt that when disaster strikes the international community is
committed to the cause of saving lives, but the systems that are in place and
lines of accountability need to work better to get the most out of these
efforts.
"This is why I propose that a task force be set up of Ministers from across the
world to meet annually to discuss a way forward for the way the UN carries out
its humanitarian role when disaster strikes. Millions of communities across the
world are relying on us to get this right."
DFID provides crucial expertise to developing countries in the wake of
humanitarian crises, working with the UN and charities such as the Red Cross to
save lives. During the recent cyclone Burma and earthquake in China, DFID
provided £45 million in aid to supply airlifts of small boats to carry aid to
desolate areas in addition to a team of experts who worked in the area for four
months following the disaster.
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Notes to editors
1. DFID has given £2,249 million to help developing countries in the wake of
humanitarian disasters in the past five years (2002-07).
2. DFID on behalf of the UK Government is the second largest humanitarian donor
in the world, giving £45 million to help in the wake of Cyclone Nargis earlier
this year and £66.4 million following the Tsunami of 2004.
3. DFID works in over 100 developing countries across the world. In the wake of
humanitarian disasters our country offices work with a hub of DFID humanitarian
experts based in London and charities and governments to save lives.
4. Gareth Thomas was speaking at the United Nations in Geneva during the
Executive Committee of the UN High Commission for Refugees.
For further information contact Amy Wright in the DFID Press Office on 020 7023 0600, or e-mail a-wright@dfid.gov.uk