OCHA in 2000: Activities and Extrabudgetary Funding Requirements

FOREWORD

I am pleased to present you with OCHA in 2000, the second such publication produced by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). It provides a consolidated view of OCHA’s extrabudgetary needs, both at headquarters and in the field. OCHA in 2000 also highlights some of the challenges and accomplishments of 1999, with the aim of learning lessons and identifying our priorities for the coming year.

Last year was an extremely difficult one for OCHA’s clients and for the humanitarian community as a whole. Some of the most intractable conflicts, such as those in Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, deteriorated further. In other parts of the world, such as South Eastern Europe and East Timor, new emergencies erupted.

Meanwhile, the Northern Caucasus reminded us of the fragility of situations that are not thoroughly resolved through political settlement. Within the context of all of these conflicts, we face multiple challenges to our core humanitarian principles and our methods of working.

Perhaps no issue is more pressing than how to ensure the protection of civilians in armed conflict, as well as the security of aid workers who are mandated to assist victims of war.

In addition to complex emergencies, in 1999 OCHA coordinated the response to 52 natural disasters worldwide, which included the coordination of military and civil defence assets whenever these were utilized. As part of its overall response, OCHA mobilized more than US$ 100 million for disasters such as the floods in China and the Sudan, devastating earthquakes in Turkey, Afghanistan and the Chinese province of Taiwan, and the cyclone in Orissa, India which alone killed more than 9,500 people and affected some 12.6 million others. The year ended with the tragedy of the uncounted victims of the Venezuelan floods, Latin America’s worst disaster of the century.

With all of its challenges, 1999 also provided opportunities for innovation. OCHA, together with its partners, worked to develop stronger advocacy tools and field coordination capacity for confronting contemporary emergencies. For instance, in Sierra Leone the Humanitarian Coordinator helped to negotiate greater humanitarian access as an integral part of the Lomé Peace Agreement. In the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Office developed novel approaches to advocacy, through ongoing assessment of the energy crisis and its humanitarian implications. In another development, OCHA deployed United Nations Disaster and Coordination teams immediately after the onset of the Kosovo and East Timor crises.

This was the first time in recent years that such teams had been deployed to a complex emergency and is an example of increased integration of the Office’s disaster response and complex emergency branches and maximised use of common services. Furthermore, the Office, with the support of key partners within and outside the United Nations system, prepared the Secretary-General’s report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. It also made significant inroads in developing policy and practical field guidelines on internal displacement.

Attention was also focused on the “forgotten” people, those in countries such as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Somalia and Tajikistan, who suffer daily, but are often not seen in the media. OCHA, on numerous occasions, has engaged the Security Council on the need to address "forgotten" emergencies. More recently, the Secretary-General highlighted their plight at the global launch of the United Nations Consolidated Inter-agency Appeals for the year 2000, calling on donors to contribute US$ 2.3 billion to assist the victims of complex emergencies around the world.

In the year 2000, OCHA will build on the achievements of 1999 to improve its field coordination capacity and to strengthen its advocacy role. As the International Decade on Natural Disaster Reduction concludes, ECOSOC has decided that an Inter-Agency Secretariat for Disaster Reduction will be established in January 2000 to follow up on the Decade’s important work. In 2000, OCHA will forge closer synergy between disaster reduction, mitigation and response activities. We shall also continue to strengthen our internal management and improve the working conditions of our field staff.

I wish to thank all of our partners for their support and collaboration throughout this extraordinary year. I hope that we can continue to count on your support and that OCHA in 2000 will contribute to further strengthening our mutual knowledge and trust.

Sergio Vieira de Mello

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator