Geneva: Press conference by Mr. Jan Egeland, USG for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

Mr. Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, held a press conference on 11 December at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on the new challenges and security issues.
Mr. Egeland indicated that he had just chaired the Interagency Standing Committee, which was the umbrella organization for the whole UN system, the humanitarian organizations, the Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations, and the NGOs. This umbrella institution as well as all the other UN cooperation mechanisms in the humanitarian area showed how important and effective the "revolution" had been in terms of making progress in the logistic and the operational aspect of humanitarian work.

Mr. Egeland said that OCHA and the duties of Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs had been created because the UN had not been able to respond to the humanitarian crisis during the first Gulf War, and to come to the relief of the Kurd refugees of the Kuwait/Iraq war. Today, OCHA was able to provide anywhere in the world within hours the relief, the experts, the personnel, the logistic capabilities, and the telecommunications needed. However, Mr. Egeland insisted on the fact that this could only be done with resources and access.

In this regard, a revolution on the political level was lacking. Security problems and the fact that OCHA was now being directly targeted in some countries like never before, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan, prevented access to millions of victims of war in around 20 different countries. Furthermore, in some cases, the parties to a conflict or the government in place denied access to the population because they did not want the humanitarian staff to be the eyes and ears of the international community.

Considering the actual situation, which was completely different to the one existing a few years ago, the UN recognized that the security system needed a big overhaul. The protective measures had to be improved, as well as the information analysis and the training of the personnel. National staffs needed to be empowered and political and military actors were requested to provide the security conditions they were in charge of according to international law. Mr. Egeland said that 2004 would be a year of change in the management process of the security area.

Mr. Egeland affirmed that OCHA was committed to go back to Iraq as soon as security conditions permitted. However, Somalia was a country where OCHA operated in many ways, like in Iraq, but nobody reported on it. It was a forgotten crisis, he said. Some other 20 major humanitarian crisis areas also existed but, unfortunately, they never got reported about and only received a third of the resources that OCHA appealed for every year. Mr. Egeland said that this was an area where he would work on as Emergency Relief Coordinator in order to try to draw the attention of donors and the world media to what was really happening. In northern Uganda, which was the biggest forgotten emergency in the world, 10 thousand children had been abducted in the last 12 months and between 600,000 and 1,3 million people had been internally displaced over the last 12 months.

Responding to a question on the changes needed in the security management area, Mr. Egeland said that efforts would be done to obtain more effective information and analysis, and to help bring the premises up to the minimum operating security standards. However, no measure took in isolation would permit a return in Iraq, the general security situation had to improve. Furthermore, OCHA had to explain more clearly to the public the reasons of its presence and underline its impartiality.

Responding to another question regarding the security conditions in Iraq, Mr. Egeland reminded that the coalition forces were responsible for security in the country. He however regretted that one of the big misconception to which OCHA maybe contributed was that it had left Iraq. But the programs continued to be monitored in the country by the 2,000 national staff and OCHA directed and provided leadership form the neighbouring countries.

Mr. Egeland said that the UN offered to help and support a constitutional process in Iraq. Indeed, the UN believed that the more the Iraqis would be empowered, the better it would be to provide stability to the country and the region.

Responding to a question on the necessity of having a military escort, Mr. Egeland said that the leaders of governments and armed groups around the world had to take their responsibilities and provide the conditions that were necessary for OCHA to bring a humanitarian relief. Today, the actual exploding humanitarian crisis was in Darfur, western Sudan, where people were dying because OCHA could not access. All those who had a control over forces and territories should be hold accountable by international law for lives being lost because OCHA was prevented to give assistance, said Mr. Egeland.

Asked if the coalition forces should be accountable for the death of the humanitarian staff in Iraq because of the lack of security conditions, Mr. Egeland said the situation was different. The coalition forces did not deliberately act against the humanitarian workers. They did their utmost for security and regretted the leaving of the humanitarians.

Mr. Egeland said that OCHA wished to avoid military escort but in some exceptional cases, such temporary crisis measure could be taken. Humanitarian assistance and arms should be totally separated, he added. Mr. Egeland underlined that OCHA had lost more colleagues in the recent months than in any other period in the UN humanitarian history.

Mr. Egeland said that the situation in Iraq was stable and no humanitarian crisis was to deplore because the UN provided a very effective assistance in the last 20 years.