General Assembly
Official Records
Fifty-fourth Session
Supplement No. 1 (A/54/1)

Chapter III

Delivering humanitarian services

200. In the past year, the United Nations assisted countries and regions affected by over 60 natural disasters, as well as by man-made emergencies. These included Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Burundi, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, the Russian Federation, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, the Sudan, Tajikistan, Uganda, the former Yugoslavia and the Great Lakes region of Africa. This assistance has often involved innovative joint initiatives. Some examples are the collaboration on health issues between the Pan American Health Organization and UNICEF against cholera in Central America; initiatives undertaken by UNHCR and UNICEF in West Africa on child soldiers and unaccompanied children; and initiatives on gender by UNICEF and WFP.

201. Attacks on humanitarian personnel continued to pose major problems. In 1998, 22 United Nations staff members and many more local and international personnel from non-governmental organizations involved in complex emergencies lost their lives. The loss of humanitarian personnel in several direct attacks in Angola and Somalia illustrated the growing extent of this problem. The World Food Programme lost 12 staff members in 1998. As a result, it has sought to improve staff security by providing at least three days of basic security awareness training for all agency personnel and making key improvements in the security of field facilities.

202. Disbursements of food aid increased in 1998. WFP assisted nearly 75 million people, with contributions amounting to $1.7 billion in 1998, a 33 per cent increase over 1997. In recognition of the challenges posed by its increased involvement in relief assistance, WFP established the Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation, a programme aimed at ensuring a seamless transition from emergency relief and life-saving activities to post-crisis recovery.

203. The health assistance programmes of WHO focused on assessing the health needs of those affected by emergencies and disasters, providing health information, assisting in health sector coordination and planning and implementing priority programmes in areas such as mental health, control of epidemics, immunization, pharmaceuticals and nutrition. Priority was given to strengthening the coordination between national health authorities and the international community, as well as to bridging the gap between recovery, rehabilitation and health development activities. Special efforts were made to eradicate polio and to control malaria in countries affected by emergencies, to improve health systems in the Palestinian self-rule areas, and to observe the equitable distribution of commodities imported under Security Council resolution 986 (1995) and the rehabilitation of health services in Iraq.

204. Humanitarian conventions are increasingly flouted in modern warfare, and children are major victims. In addressing the needs of children in conflict, UNICEF has continued to press for commitments from Governments and military bodies to act more effectively to protect children. It has urged an end to the use of child soldiers and the universal adoption of the global ban on anti-personnel landmines. Its in-country programmes to protect children in conflict zones have included mine-awareness programmes, and the negotiation of ceasefire agreements to allow the provision of food or immunization to those in need.

205. My Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict has been working to increase global awareness of the impact of conflict on children and to mobilize the political support of both Governments and civil society to strengthen the protection, rights and welfare of children in armed conflict and its aftermath. At the country level, he undertook a series of visits to countries in, or affected by, armed conflict and sought to obtain commitments from the parties to conflicts and other key actors to providing better protection and welfare for children. Efforts are also under way to promote the inclusion of the protection and needs of children in peace processes, targeting several countries that are undergoing peace-building efforts. In August 1999, the Security Council adopted a resolution stressing the need for greater and more effective efforts to protect children in armed conflicts.

206. In recognizing children and women as bearers of rights who may play a central role in peace-building efforts, UNICEF has contributed to developing and conducting children's rights and gender awareness training for peacekeeping forces. As disasters and crises can affect women and men differently, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee has also developed a common policy on the integration of a gender perspective into humanitarian assistance programmes.

207. The majority of those affected by disasters live in the countryside. Here, FAO has played an important role in assessing damage to local production capacities, providing early warning of impending food emergencies, producing information on crop and food supplies and rendering technical advice to the numerous actors involved in agricultural emergency assistance. FAO has also provided considerable support to disaster-stricken farmers, helping to bridge the gap between relief and rehabilitation.

208. Many of today's gravest humanitarian crises are exacerbated by the use of mines, which in many areas continue to pose deadly threats to civilians long after hostilities have ceased. Responding to the threats posed by landmines, the Mine Action Service of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations has coordinated a number of inter-agency assessment missions, which have defined the problems and challenges facing individual countries and communities and proposed common and comprehensive responses. In addition, it has worked with its partners to develop and implement programmes in mine awareness, victim assistance, mine clearance and advocacy. These and other activities have been strongly supported by Member States, both through contributions to the Voluntary Trust Fund for Mine Action and through the many ratifications of the Ottawa Convention, which allowed it to enter into force on 1 March 1999.

209. The humanitarian community increasingly recognizes that it is part of its responsibility to ensure that relief programmes pave the way for sustainable development. UNDP and humanitarian agencies are working together to ensure that a concern for long-term sustainable human development informs relief operations. Programmes for the demobilization of former combatants, comprehensive mine action, the return and reintegration of refugees and internally displaced persons and the restoration of the institutions of good governance reflect this concern.

210. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) combines humanitarian and development objectives in providing relief and social services to approximately 3.6 million Palestine refugees. A special feature of the Agency's operations has been its ability to maintain essential services, often on an emergency basis, in war and conflict situations. However, the Agency's continuing financial deficit, which reached $70 million against its 1999 budget of $322 million, has inevitably had a negative effect on the level and standard of services.