Humanitarian Affairs
Humanitarian affairs encompasses a broad range of measures to assist
and protect civilian populations during armed conflicts and natural disasters.
A key characteristic of humanitarian action is its impartial nature: assistance
is offered on the basis of need, irrespective of the political, religious
or ethnic affiliations.
Humanitarian activities have a long history, and are often associated
with the Red Cross, an
organization founded in the 1860s. Other prominent humanitarian organizations
emerged in response to this century's two world wars, and their ranks have
expanded dramatically since the late 1960s. The international response
to the refugees from Cambodia a decade later, and to the victims of the
famine in Ethiopia, have also been important events in the evolution of
the contemporary international humanitarian system.
The United Nations has increasingly become the central focal point for
the international community's response to humanitarian crises. The principal
UN agencies involved in humanitarian operation include the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World
Food Program (WFP), UNICEF, the
United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The UN has been particularly active in the 1990s, beginning with the
mass flight of Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq following the Gulf War
in 1991. Recognizing the limitations of the existing humanitarian
capacity, the UN General Assembly set out the basic parameters for a UN
response to humanitarian crises in Resolution 46/182, including the creation
of a Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA). The mid-1990s, however,
presented the international humanitarian community with a series of daunting
challenges including the intervention in Somalia, the war in the former
Yugoslavia, and the genocide in Rwanda resulting in a refugee crisis throughout
the Great Lakes region of Africa. Further reforms to the UN humanitarian
system were introduced by Secretary General Kofi Annan in the summer of
1997 including replacing the Department of Humanitarian Affairs with the
Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Canada’s long-standing tradition of helping alleviate human suffering
caused by violent conflict and natural disasters was reaffirmed in the
latest foreign policy statement, Canada in the World (1995). The Department
of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), in close cooperation
with the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA), is responsible for international policy
on humanitarian affairs at the United Nations where our principal objective
is to promote a more efficient and effective victim-centred humanitarian
response system.
Canada’s efforts at the UN focus in particular on monitoring the on-going
reform of the humanitarian system, relevant Security Council debates, resolutions
of the General Assembly, the humanitarian affairs segment of the Economic
and Social Council, and the Executive Committee of UNHCR. DFAIT is
also responsible for policy development on a series of thematic issues
including the safety of humanitarian workers, the role of the military
in humanitarian emergencies and the connections between humanitarian affairs
and human rights. Within the Government of Canada, responsibility
for the disbursement of international humanitarian assistance lies with
CIDA. Responsibility for emergency assistance is shared between the
International Humanitarian Assistance Program and the Food Aid Centre.
Together they ensure that Canadian humanitarian assistance and food aid
to developing countries are appropriate, timely and effective.
Canada has been responsive to many recent humanitarian crises around
the world (Hurricane Georges, Hurricane Mitch, Kosovo and Bangladesh),
as well as a number of enduring ones (Former Yugoslavia, the African Great
Lakes, Sudan and Afghanistan).
Relevant Web-sites to connect to text above:
Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA Online)
Relief Web - sponsored by
the United Nations
International
Committee of the Red Cross
Relief
and Rehabilitation Network - list of web-based sources on humanitarian
affairs
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