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Economic and Social Council
13 July 2005

Humanitarian Affairs Segment

Statement by Ms Natasha Smith
Counsellor (Development)
Australian Delegation to the United Nations

(Check against delivery)



Mr President

Today, in too many places in the world, communities continue to be affected by humanitarian crises, natural disasters and conflict. As we saw all too tragically in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami, these events have a very real and immediate human cost, but also undermine development progress and hamper efforts to reduce poverty and achieve long-term, sustainable development. Australia welcomes the commitment of the Council to discuss practical measures to strengthen humanitarian response capacity, to address the transition from relief to development and to take the opportunity to reflect and learn lessons from the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Secretary-General and OCHA for the reports on these issues before the Council.

Clearly, an effective, coordinated response to a humanitarian crisis hinges on the capacity to respond in a timely and effective manner. In this, the international humanitarian community has long acknowledged that there is room for improvement. While a lot has been achieved in this respect, events in Darfur – where agencies came under sudden pressure to meet vast humanitarian needs – illustrate that much more can be done.

Australia is very supportive of international efforts to ensure emergency response mechanisms are as timely and effective as possible. Greater predictability in funding, improvement in mechanisms for development and deployment of stand-by capacities and setting of benchmarks for delivery of humanitarian responses are practical ways in which the humanitarian response system can be strengthened. Our collective aim must be to increase the effectiveness and impact of humanitarian assistance and to find ways to effectively monitor and evaluate our efforts in doing so.

In this context, Australia welcomes efforts by the Emergency Relief Coordinator to assess and strengthen emergency response capacities through the framework of the Humanitarian Response Review. We also agree that more needs to be done to ensure that the UN has access to the expertise and capacity to respond in all humanitarian sectors, including protection. While there are many valuable lessons that can be learned from the Indian Ocean tsunami, we hope the outcomes of the Review will not be influenced disproportionately by the unprecedented international response to this event.

Mr President, the new and more complex environments in which we now undertake humanitarian action, such as the situation in Darfur, have served to highlight the heightened levels of coordination required between humanitarian actors. Australia agrees wholeheartedly with the need for greater coordination of humanitarian activities, at all levels.

We recognise that achieving a universally coordinated response to a complex humanitarian emergency is no easy task, we firmly believe that increased support to improve the capacity and authority of UN Humanitarian Coordinators is central to the improvement of coordination at the field level. At the regional level, we believe the role of Humanitarian Coordinators could be significantly strengthened by the appointment of a regional Humanitarian Coordinator position. We would urge OCHA to give consideration to this.

Our experience of the work of OCHA in the Asia Pacific region leads us to note that where OCHA and the UN system have not invested in cooperative mechanisms and relationships - and by this we mean genuine commitment by UNDG and individual agencies to and undertaking of collaborate arrangements, in the absences of a crisis - when a crisis does arrive, it is futile to expect these relationships and collaboration to materalise out of nowhere. OCHA and the UNDG agencies need to work harder and more collaboratively across the board and not just under an often forced management structure in times of crisis. Without effective cooperation, UN, donor and civil society funds will be wasted.

As highlighted in the Report of the Secretary-General, coordination is important not only in the emergency phase of humanitarian action, but also in the transition period from relief to development. This is a critical and immediate challenge for affected countries in the Indian Ocean in the post tsunami phase. As people return to affected areas and the immediate needs for emergency assistance subside, our focus must quickly shift to developing a range of sustainable solutions to assist displaced communities as they recover and rebuild. This is a high priority for Australian support to our neighbours in the region.

Mr President, Australia is supportive of the focus the UN is giving to transition, and encourages an open sharing of ideas to enable the international community to more confidently face the challenges of this phase. We consider it essential that humanitarian response is used to lay the groundwork for transition. But saving lives is only the beginning. Recovery must be a shared priority for humanitarian, development, peace and security actors. We wish to draw attention to the need for strengthening of administrative and governance systems in the transition phase to ensure solid foundations for development. Emphasis is also needed on local ownership of recovery programmes and recognition and input of local expertise.

The Indian Ocean Tsunami once again drew attention to the need for finding ways to prevent, or mitigate the effects of natural disasters. Further work is needed to integrate disaster preparedness and mitigation measures into national development strategies. In this context, Australia, drawing on a long and very diverse experience in disaster risk reduction and response both domestically and in our region, was pleased to play a leading role in developing an institutional framework for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System.

In a similar vein, conflict prevention must be a high priority for the international community, to seek to avoid or at least minimise the complex emergencies that affect far too many countries. Focusing on the particular needs and challenges of fragile states is key to this. We are doing our best to help these countries address governance, peace and security and rule of law. We urge the UN systems and international community more broadly to also give fragile states the priority and attention they require.

Thank you