HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS SEGMENT
The ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment, which will take place from 20 – 22 July 2009, provides an important forum where Member States and Humanitarian Organisations discuss the challenges, opportunities and activities related to the strengthening of the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations.
At its organizational session for 2009, the Council decided: (a) that the theme of the Humanitarian Affairs Segment will be “Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian assistance: Present challenges and their impact on the future”; and (b) that it will convene two panel discussions, of which the topics will be: (i) “Respecting and implementing guiding principles of humanitarian assistance at the operational level – assisting the affected populations”; (ii) “Addressing the impact of current global challenges and trends on the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance” (Council decision 2009/ E/2009/L.2). Each panel will feature high-level participation from Member States, relevant UN agencies, NGOs and experts.
The panel discussion on "Respecting and implementing guiding principles of humanitarian assistance at the operational level – assisting the affected populations" will take place on Monday 20 July 2009. The panel is designed to illustrate the challenges that affect the principled delivery of humanitarian aid and to discuss relevant aspects of respecting and implementing key principles for humanitarian action at the operational level.
The panel on "Addressing the impact of current global challenges and trends on the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance," will take place on Tuesday 21 July 2009. The panel aims to explore the impact and interconnectedness of global mega-trends such as climate change, population growth, urbanization, resource scarcity, and of global shocks such as the food and economic crisis. Its design seeks to elaborate how these trends and shocks shape current and future vulnerabilities and the effective delivery of humanitarian aid.
Scheduled for Friday morning 17 July, in between the Operational and Humanitarian Affairs Segments, is the informal ECOSOC event on "Coordination in the transition phase between emergency relief and sustainable recovery.” This event will discuss key themes emanating from the Secretary-General’s report on peace-building in the immediate aftermath of conflict.
In the margins of the Segment, there will be also the annual ‘Consolidated Appeals Process (CAP) Mid-Year Review’ and several informal side events on issues such as; the outcome of the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction; progress and challenges in the implementation of the health cluster at the country level; challenges to the facilitation of durable solutions for IDPs and best practices from and for affected governments; strengthening national capacity for emergency preparedness and response; the new E-Learning tool on gender in humanitarian action, progress on the Gender Standby Capacity Project and on gender-based violence coordination programming; and the normative development of the United Nations Humanitarian Framework since General Assembly resolution 46/182.
For more information, please contact Mr. Marcus Elten, Policy Development and Studies Branch, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at ecosocinfo@un.org