Strengthening of the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations - Report of the Secretary-General (A/69/80–E/2014/68)

The present report has been prepared pursuant to General Assembly resolution 46/182 , in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to report annually to the Assembly and the Economic and Social Council on the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance. The report is also submitted in response to Assembly resolution 68/102 and Economic and Social Council resolution 2013/6.
The period covered by the report is January to December 2013.

The report describes the major humanitarian trends and challenges ove r the past year and analyses a number of thematic issues, including reducing vulnerability and managing risk; transformation through innovation; serving the needs of people in conflict; and humanitarian effectiveness. The report provides an overview of cur rent efforts to improve humanitarian coordination and response and provides recommendations for further improvement.

I. Introduction

1. Throughout 2013, the United Nations and its partners continued to face major challenges in responding to humanitarian needs generated by conflicts and natural disasters throughout the world. By the end of 2013, the number of people intern ally displaced by armed conflict and generalized violence had increased to over 33.2 million, the highest figure recorded by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Although an estimated 1 million people were able to return home in 2013, over 8.1 million were newly displaced. The number of people fleeing their homes across borders also continued to increase dramatically. In mid - 2013, the global refugee population stood at 11.1 million, 600,000 higher than six months earlier, and the figure was conside red likely to increase.

2. The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters recorded 334 natural disasters in 2013, which claimed an estimated 22,600 lives, affected million people and caused over US$ 118 billion in damages. Asia continued to be the region most impacted by natural disasters, with almost half (160) of the disasters occurring in the region, accounting for 88 per cent of the number of people killed.

3. The scale of needs in 2013 and the outlook for 2014 continue the upward trend of the last decade. In 2014, 52 million people will be targeted to receive international humanitarian assistance through the inter - agency appeal process and a record $15.6 billion will be requested for humanitarian action in 25 countries. These increasing needs, the international community ’ s collective inability to resolve protracted crises and the convergence of various global challenges have severely hindered the operational and financial capacity of Governments and humanitarian organizations to respond adequately.

4. This underscores the need to change the way Member States, the United Nations and its partners, affected communities and first responders, the private sector, diaspora organizations and other civil society groups collaborate, coordinate and prepare for and respond to humanitarian crises. The process leading up to the World Humanitarian Summit will provide an opportunity for all relevant stakeholders to consider how the international community can better respond to humanitarian situations and what more can be done to prevent them from occurring in the future.