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Tag: Stephen O’Brien

  • World Humanitarian Day: UN aid chief urges protection of aid workers

    World Humanitarian Day: UN aid chief urges protection of aid workers

    The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Stephen O’Brien, has called for the protection of aid workers, saying it is “paramount” for the continued delivery of aid to victims.

    O’Brien, who is also the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, stated this on the occassion of the 2017 World Humanitarian Day.

    As conflicts around the world continued to take a massive toll on people’s lives, he  stressed the importance of ensuring that the brave men and women who risked their lives to help those in need were not themselves a target.

    “The protection of aid workers is paramount,” O’Brien said for the Day observed annually on Aug. 19 to pay tribute to aid workers who risked their lives in humanitarian service, and rally support for people affected by crises worldwide.

    “It was designated by the General Assembly to coincide with the date of the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, in which 22 staff lost their lives.

    “This year, humanitarian partners are coming together under the #NotATarget Campaign to highlight the need to protect civilians caught in conflict, including humanitarian and medical workers.

    “World Humanitarian Day is an opportunity for us to focus on protecting humanitarian aid workers, particularly in the medical field,” O’Brien noted.

    Currently, he said, humanitarian workers are operating in 40 countries across the world, often for many years, despite insufferable difficulties.

    “People put themselves at great risk to reach people in need, in some of the most dangerous environments, in protracted crises around the world,” he stated, noting that just recently, seven Syrian volunteer rescuers, known as White Helmets, were killed.

    O’Brien acknowledged that such incidents were becoming too commonplace saying “my heart grieves for the family and friends of those brave people who gave the ultimate sacrifice to help others”.

    In spite of the difficulties and dangers, O’Brien stated that humanitarian work was moving forward “at every point.”

    “Member States, humanitarian aid workers, coordinators of humanitarian relief – all of us continue to supply strength, determination, courage and conviction.

    “There is no higher international public good than seeking to save the lives and protect the civilians caught up in crisis,” he said.

    The #NotATarget campaign follows the launch earlier this year of the UN Secretary-General’s report on protection of civilians, in which he called for enhanced respect for international humanitarian and human rights law, and protection of civilians.

    According to the report, those most in need of urgent humanitarian assistance and protection are civilians in urban areas, children, targets of sexual violence, humanitarian workers, health workers, and forcibly displaced people.

    O’Brien said that making a difference on the ground required “physical will and relationships with players in all the various places” to get the necessary access to those in need.

    “We are in the business of trying to protect civilians. We are trying to put in place the right balance. To do this, we must make sure that the perpetrators of violence are held accountable for their actions.

    “It is important that everyone adheres to agreed international norms, laws and principles, to make sure that people are held to account,” he stressed.

  • 20 million facing starvation in Nigeria, three others – UN

    20 million facing starvation in Nigeria, three others – UN

    The world is facing its largest humanitarian crisis since 1945, the United Nations said, issuing a plea for help to avoid “a catastrophe.”

    UN humanitarian chief, Stephen O’Brien, said more than 20 million people are facing the threat of starvation and famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria.

    UNICEF has already warned 1.4m children could starve to death this year, the BBC reports.

    Mr. O’Brien said $4.4bn (£3.6bn) was needed by July to avert disaster.

    “We stand at a critical point in history,” Mr. O’Brien told the Security Council on Friday. “Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations.”

    “Now, more than 20 million people across four countries face starvation and famine. Without collective and coordinated global efforts, people will simply starve to death. Many more will suffer and die from disease.

    “Children stunted and out of school. Livelihoods, futures and hope will be lost. Communities’ resilience rapidly wilting away. Development gains reversed. Many will be displaced and will continue to move in search for survival, creating ever more instability across entire regions.”

    Mr. O’Brien’s comments follow on from a similar appeal made by UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, last month.

    At that time, he revealed the UN had only received $90m (£74m) so far in 2017, despite generous pledges.

    Like Mr. O’Brien, he urged more financial support for the four countries.

  • UN launches record $22.2bn humanitarian appeal for 2017

    UN launches record $22.2bn humanitarian appeal for 2017

    A record 22.2-billion-dollar humanitarian appeal for 2017 to help almost 93 million people hit by conflicts and natural disasters around the world was launched by the UN on Monday.

    More than half of the money will be used to address the needs of people caught up in crises in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and South Sudan, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

    The appeal followed a trend of steady increases that saw requests for funds grow almost three-fold from 7.9 billion dollars in 2011.

    “As we speak, more people have humanitarian needs, not least because of protracted crises lasting longer and longer,” UN humanitarian chief, Stephen O’Brien, wrote in the  appeal, which covers 33 countries.

    Several countries, including Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia have issued emergency appeals almost annually for the past 25 years and some faced worsening crises in 2017, the UN. said.

    In 2016, the UN sought 22.1 billion dollars, having initially appealed for 20.1 billion dollars but a shortfall in donations meant the appeal was only 51 per cent funded as of Nov. 30.

    “Sadly, with persistently escalating humanitarian needs, the gap between what has to be done to save and protect more people today and what humanitarians are financed to do and can access is growing ever wider,” OCHA head O’Brien noted.

    As humanitarian needs continue to rise, aid workers are increasingly at risk of targeted attacks and their efforts are hampered by reduced access, growing disrespect for human rights and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law, O’Brien said.

    In Syria, humanitarian needs were expected to “grow exponentially” if no political solution was found to the nearly six-year-old conflict, with 13.5 million people requiring aid.

    In Afghanistan, where government forces are struggling to contain a Taliban insurgency, 1.8 million people, mostly children, will require treatment for acute malnutrition next year, according to the appeal.

    The political crisis in Burundi will see the number of people in need of urgent support triple to about three million.

    The UN last week doubled its appeal for northeast Nigeria to 1 billion dollars, hoping to reach nearly seven million people hit by the Islamist militants Boko Haram insurgency, including 75,000 children at risk of starving to death.

    Long-term conflicts resulted in higher costs partially because falling state revenues required aid agencies to offer healthcare, education and other services traditionally provided by governments, said Paul Knox Clarke.

    Clarke is head of research and communications at ALNAP, a humanitarian action learning network.

    “You have a situation where the humanitarian funding is basically this sort of welfare service provision,” he told the media.

  • Boko Haram: UN wants help for displaced people

    The United Nations, Chad, Niger and Cameroon appealed on Friday for help for millions of people in the Lake Chad Basin region forced to flee the violence of Boko Haram and hit with repeated droughts and floods that have brought malnutrition and disease.

    But while the militants operate out of Nigeria and UN aid chief, Stephen O’Brien, said that is where most people have been displaced by their attacks, Nigeria did not send anyone to the event.

    United States and European Union diplomats said they were disappointed that Nigeria did not attend the event chaired by O’Brien on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

    The Nigerian UN mission was not immediately available to comment on its absence.

    A regional offensive by Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon earlier this year drove Boko Haram from much of the territory it held in northern Nigeria. But the militants have since struck back with a renewed wave of deadly raids and suicide bombings.

    “These (displaced) families are being used as ammunition because it is the children that are used as bombers in markets and in train stations,” Reuters quoted Chad’s Foreign Minister, Moussa Faki Mahamat, as saying on the matter.

    “Trade is virtually wiped out in this area.”

    Several UN diplomats at the event warned that the aid emergency in Lake Chad Basin risked being forgotten amid other humanitarian crises in Syria, Yemen and South Sudan.

    Niger Prime Minister, Brigi Rafini, said the region was in the midst of a “genuine disaster.”