ReliefWeb

SUMMARY

Goal and Strategic objectives

The overarching goal of this strategy is to support the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and local communities to ensure that the lives, dignity and well-being of persons affected by conflict and disaster are protected.

To achieve this goal, the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) has agreed on the following strategic objectives for humanitarian action in 2015:

1. Ensure that the life-saving protection and assistance needs of people affected by conflict and/or disasters are met;

2. Ensure that people affected by conflict and/or disasters have equitable access to basic services and livelihoods opportunities;

3. Enhance the resilience of communities to conflict and natural disasters and contribute to early recovery and durable solutions

Parameters of the response

The 2015 Humanitarian Response Plan is one component of a much broader engagement by the United Nations and its partners in Myanmar that includes a wide range of peace-building, recovery and longer-term development activities.

In 2015, the United Nations and its partners will continue to focus on assisting the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and local communities to ensure that all crisis-affected people in the country receive the assistance and protection they need, irrespective of their ethnicity, nationality, religion or gender, in accordance with humanitarian principles. While focusing primarily on meeting the needs of the most vulnerable, humanitarian organizations will work to ensure that there is equitable access to basic services and livelihoods opportunities for all people. Further efforts will also be made to support the Government and communities to achieve durable solutions for displaced people and to support inclusive early recovery and resilience efforts to enhance people’s self-reliance and independence.

The United Nations and its partners will also continue to engage in emergency preparedness activities as Myanmar is considered to be one of the countries at highest risk of natural disasters in South East Asia. There is an on-going need for disaster risk reduction and activities aimed at strengthening national capacity to prepare for and respond to natural hazards.

The Humanitarian Country Team estimates that there are 540,700 people affected by conflict or inter-communal violence in Myanmar who are in need of protection and assistance (1 per cent of the country’s total population of 51.4 million). The Humanitarian Country Team plans to target 536,400 of these people who have been assessed as the most vulnerable in 2015. The remaining 4,300 are displaced or resettled people in the Meikhtila area of Mandalay Region, whose needs are being addressed by the Government, as agreed with the Government in 2013. Of those targeted by the Humanitarian Country Team in 2015, 416,600 people are in Rakhine State and 119,800 are in Kachin and northern Shan states.

In the case of south-eastern Myanmar, the humanitarian and development needs of displaced people, most of whom have been displaced for many years, are covered through a separate durable solutions framework that is beyond the scope of this Humanitarian Response Plan.

KEY HUMANITARIAN ISSUES

1. Prolonged displacement resulting from on-going intercommunal tensions and unresolved armed conflict

2. Unequal and inadequate access to basic services and livelihoods opportunities

3. Challenges in finding durable solutions for the displaced

4. Building resilience and preparing for new emergencies