Giving an overview of the global humanitarian situation, Wednesday, Norwegian Jan Egeland warned that the world is not living up to its responsibilities to protect people in various hotspots.
Highlighting in particular the killings in Darfur, along with those in neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR), Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland regretted that the “world woke up too late,” having failed to stop the violence when there was still time in 2003 or 2004.
– We as an international community have solemnly sworn a responsibility to protect. And we are not living up to that responsibility, Mr. Egeland told reporters in his last press conference to be held in Geneva. He leaves office at the end of 2006.
Looking back on his three and a half years in office, he said there had been almost as many failures and successes in the international community, highlighting developments in Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nepal and northern Uganda as showing how these formerly conflict-wracked States were rebuilding.
Mr. Egeland lamented increasing violence in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan and described the loss of life in Iraq as an “outrage”.
Turning to more positive developments over the past few years, Mr. Egeland cited increased cooperation between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the UN, as well as the establishment of the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) – the multi-million-dollar UN mechanism set up this year to provide funding for humanitarian activities in response to sudden emergencies.
However he also warned that the Security Council sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), imposed after their recent nuclear test, could lead the donor community to be less generous in aid to North Korea.
Kilde: www.un.org/news
