NEWSLETTER Week of March 03th 2017

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NEWSLETTER
Week of March 03th 2017

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The 2016’s humanitarian year was marked in May by a World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul and, in September in New York, by a Summit on massive movements of migrants and refugees.

The international community is, as a matter of fact, faced with the greatest humanitarian needs of our time, most of them due to human causes … And the agencies of the United Nations system received only half of the funds they ask for. Given the increase of these needs, the complexity and the difficulty of the situations, the number of actors increases: Governments, UN, regional and subregional organizations, civil society, private economy, local communities, diasporas and religious organizations. To cope, all these actors must favor collaboration and complementarity, partnership and not competition, accept and seek diversity and not uniformity of responses to these humanitarian crises. And prioritize prevention, building resilience through links between emergency humanitarian aid and development assistance. And most importantly, do not forget the causes of these humanitarian crises and these massive movements of refugees and migrants, in most cases conflicts, civil wars or international conflicts… Read more »

LATEST PUBLISHED ARTICLES

At Munich Security Conference, UN chief Guterres highlights need for ‘a surge in diplomacy for peace’

02/18/2017. Secretary-General António Guterres called for a boost in preventive diplomacy and mediation efforts, as well as for a strategy to address root causes of such conflicts in the world.

“There are things that are obvious: the alignment of the sustainable and inclusive development with the sustaining peace agenda,” said Mr. Guterres in his remarks to the Munich Security Conference, noting also their importance in preventing conflicts.

He also drew attention to the need to address the fragility of states and to support states, institutions and civil societies to become stronger and more resilient to diminish the tendency for states to be involved in conflict situations.

Noting the centrality of climate change and strain on resources in increasing the probability of conflicts and dramatic humanitarian crises, Secretary-General Guterres called on the international community to rally behind the Paris Agreement on climate change as well as to focus attention on population growth, especially in Africa.

Everything you need to know about the latest Syria peace talks

21/02/2017. Geneva IV: Who is coming? What do they want? And will it matter?

Hopes are low for the Syrian peace talks set to begin on Thursday in Geneva, but that may not matter much. As the war in Syria moves towards a strategic endgame, the faltering peace process has begun to drift away from its past focus on a political transition, a shift that will ultimately have major ramifications for the country’s future.

The results of the two preceding rounds of talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana have been somewhat underwhelming. Conceived of as a political track to complement the ceasefire declared by Russia, Turkey, and Iran on 30 December, last week’s round failed to even adopt a closing statement. While Moscow trumpets the signing of a trilateral truce-monitoring agreement, it appears to be another hollow statement of intent without a credible enforcement mechanism.

Astana’s role in the peace process is separate, but not unimportant. American diplomats (who attended as observers along with Jordan and UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura) seem content with letting Russia lead the way. Like other Western and Arab nations, they remain unwilling to give their full blessing to the Astana track, fearing it will be used by Russia and Iran to displace de Mistura’s UN-led process in Geneva.

Ten humanitarian stories to look out for in 2017

01/02/2017. While 2016 taught us to expect the unexpected, IRIN’s eyes and ears on the ground have given us an idea of what to look out for in the new year.

We can’t promise everyone else will be covering these stories, but here are ten we’ll be watching:

The impact of Trump

Since Donald Trump’s election, speculation has been rife about what his presidency will mean for the wider world. His many statements and tweets on the campaign trail suggest that he intends to prioritise domestic and security interests over foreign aid spending and will roll back efforts made during the Obama administration to combat climate change.

But many in the humanitarian sector have been adopting a glass half full attitude, publicly at least, by pointing out that foreign aid has bipartisan support and Republicans in Congress will oppose any major cuts to foreign assistance. Others are predicting that even if the Trump administration doesn’t significantly cut overall aid spending, it will favour channelling aid through partnerships with the private sector and results-oriented initiatives like the Millennium Challenge Corporation, rather than through traditional recipients like the UN and international NGOs.

A Trump administration seems likely to allocate less aid to reproductive health and family planning programmes, and funding for initiatives relating to climate change will almost certainly be on the chopping block too. Trump has appointed a number of climate change sceptics to his cabinet, including Rick Perry, who will head the Department of Energy and Scott Pruitt, who will lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Famine looms in four countries as aid system struggles to cope, experts warn

02/12/2017. Campaigners say tens of millions in urgent need in Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia are in hands of an overwhelmed, outdated humanitarian network

Famine is looming in four different countries, threatening unprecedented levels of hunger and a global crisis that is already stretching the aid and humanitarian system like never before, experts and insiders warn.

Tens of millions of people in need of food aid in Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria and Somalia are at the mercy not only of an overwhelmed aid system but also the protracted, mainly conflict-driven crises in their own countries, the humanitarian leaders say.

While the generosity of donors has risen sixfold over the past 20 years, unprecedented levels of humanitarian suffering have overtaken financial support. Donor funding reached a record high last year but only half of the requirements were met, according to the UN’s humanitarian chief, Stephen O’Brien.

The Future of Humanitarian Response 2017

02/14/2017. In 2015, the World Economic Forum began working with leaders from across sectors to develop a coherent conversation around humanitarian issues.

Since then, the Forum has brought together a select group of high-level representatives from governments, international organizations, private sector, civil society and media that are actively engaged in addressing humanitarian challenges.

The purpose of the group is to take the lead on shaping the humanitarian agenda by deepening and identifying new models of public-private collaboration, scale solutions, and build a common understanding on key challenges and opportunities that will disrupt the humanitarian system.

Planning from the future : Is the Humanitarian System Fit for Purpose?

02/01/2017. Four concerns explain the origins of the Planning from the Future project. The first is the increasingly accepted fact that, in the foreseeable future, humankind will be faced with unprecedented technological and societal change. These transformations may well have positive effects that will enhance the lives of a growing number of people around the world. At the same time, as with all such transformations, there, too, is a downside. That downside will be reflected in the vulnerabilities that are frequently concomitant with change. Hence, the second concern that led to the Planning from the Future project was the plausible prospect that the dimensions and dynamics of disasters and emergencies in the future will increase, perhaps even exponentially.

Edited highlights of the BBC interview with Mark Zuckerberg

02/16/2017. Mark Zuckerberg spoke with the BBC about his open letter on issues facing Facebook and society. Here are the highlights of economics editor Kamal Ahmed’s conversation with the Facebook founder.

Future of society

KAMAL AHMED – What sparked this major statement, not just on the future of Facebook, but on the future of society?

MARK ZUCKERBERG – You know I think about this, as for the last 10 years we’ve really been focusing on connecting friends and family, and now the next focus on top of that is going to be helping to build communities. We think about having this global community, but the social fabric that we have is not one big community. It is millions of small communities and social structures and families that exist – that are really the things that we turn to for our personal and emotional and spiritual needs. And that gives us our sense of hope and purpose in life.
So I think that there is a role that Facebook can play in empowering community leaders, to strengthen existing communities, to help build new communities, to help look out for people in their community, to help keep people safe and to do all the things we are talking about here, but that will take – I think – thinking proactively about building this kind of infrastructure. And I am inspired by history where humanity has gone through these similar shifts, where we first started building cities – and when we first started building nations with the cities we had – we had to build certain social infrastructure to bring everyone together so we could do more together than individually. Now I think we are in a time like that today, and that’s the part that I just want to make sure Facebook plays its part in helping bring people together in that way.

Secretary-General Appoints Jean-Pierre Lacroix of France Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations

02/14/2017. United Nations Secretary-General António G/terres today announced the appointment of Jean-Pierre Lacroix of France as Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations to replace Hervé Ladsous, also of France.

Currently Director for the United Nations, International Organizations, Human Rights and La Francophonie at his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (since 2014), Mr. Lacroix brings to his new position more than 25 years of political and diplomatic experience, mostly in handling multilateral organizations, as well as United Nations activities and programmes.

Afghanistan: Six ICRC staff members killed and two unaccounted for in attack

02/08/2017. Six staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have been shot and killed in Afghanistan. Two staff members are unaccounted for.

The team, composed of three drivers and five field officers, was on its way to deliver much-needed livestock materials in an area south of the town of Shibergan in Jawzan province. Their convoy was attacked by unknown armed men.

“This is a despicable act. Nothing can justify the murder of our colleagues and dear friends,” said the head of the ICRC delegation in Afghanistan, Monica Zanarelli. “At this point, it’s premature for us to determine the impact of this appalling incident on our operations in Afghanistan. We want to collect ourselves as a team and support each other in processing this incomprehensible act and finding our two unaccounted for colleagues,” said Mrs Zanarelli

Five rare humanitarian success stories of 2016 (plus caveats)

12/29/2016. It’s hard to see the silver lining around a year as awful as 2016, but a few good news stories did emerge. Here are some recent successes from the humanitarian world, with our caveats:

Paris Agreement enters into force

Given that 2016 broke a number of unenviable global warming records, it seemed advisable that the Paris Agreement to combat climate change, adopted by 195 countries in the French capital in December 2015, should come into force and be implemented in good time. The first, easier part was achieved surprisingly quickly – enough parliaments had ratified it even before delegates gathered in November in Marrakesh for Paris’s follow-up meeting, COP22. But as for implementation, the devil is in the detail, and much will depend on whether countries live up to the nationally determined contributions that underpin the Paris accord. Plans are now in place for countries to sign off on a new rulebook that envisages them taking responsibility for their own progress from 2020.

Caveats: There is the small matter of a climate change denier, namely Donald J. Trump, being elected president of the country that has been the driving force behind the Paris agreement. And, even if President Trump can’t (and/or doesn’t choose to) torpedo one of the last remaining planks of his predecessor’s legacy, the accord could still be too little too late. Analysis shows that even if national targets are fully implemented, the world will be 2.7 degrees warmer by the end of the century – a temperature rise that would have disastrous consequences.