ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL CONTINUES DISCUSSION ON SPECIAL ECONOMIC, HUMANITARIAN AND DISASTER RELIEF ASSISTANCE

ECOSOC
11 July 2001
Afternoon




The Economic and Social Council this afternoon continued its debate on United Nations efforts to coordinate special economic, humanitarian and disaster relief assistance with national delegations and international agencies speaking about their undertakings to help affected countries, and calling on the international community to step up funding for humanitarian operations.

The discussion took place under the Council's humanitarian affairs segment. The Council's 2001 substantive session will conclude on 27 July.

The representative of Burkina Faso said that throughout the United Nations' history, it had been able to coordinate relief efforts to nations affected by natural disasters and armed conflicts. Nowadays, the United Nations was one of the main providers in the international community for humanitarian assistance, providing food, shelter and medicines to affected peoples. However, there were serious difficulties encountered that reduced the United Nations' effectiveness in these areas, including a financial shortage from donors, and more intense and bloodier conflicts.

The representative of South Africa said the innovative coordinating structures introduced 10 years ago in resolution 46/182 had proven their worth. South Africa welcomed the merging of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs' geographical desks dealing with complex emergencies and natural disaster response. The past decade had seen an exponential growth in natural disasters, including some in South Africa's region, with natural calamity hitting its neighbours Mozambique and Malawi particularly hard. The response to repeated flooding in Mozambique, while heartening and appreciated, also vividly demonstrated the collective inability of the system to cope swiftly, efficiently, and equitably with disasters in all parts of the globe.

But, as illustrated by the representative of Egypt and echoed by several others, there had been a reduction in voluntary contributions from States for humanitarian efforts in recent years. And even when there had been ample funding, there were still shortfalls. The representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization, for example, said the funding base for its emergency projects had doubled every year for the last three years. Yet that allowed it to only reach 30 per cent coverage of the amount requested. Seventy per cent remained uncovered.

Other speakers maintained there was a need for a culture of prevention, in which firm strategies of prevention and early warning signals could help lessen the impact of natural disasters, which because of climate change, were expected to increase in the future. Speakers also focused on the importance of creating favourable economic, social and political climates to reduce the number of armed conflicts which helped drive demand for humanitarian assistance.

Others participating in this afternoon's discussion were representatives of China, the Czech Republic, Peru, Algeria, Costa Rica, Argentina, Nepal, Pakistan, Ukraine, Australia, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Turkey, India, El Salvador, Poland, Madagascar, Honduras and Guinea.

The Council will meet at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 12 July, for a panel discussion on natural disaster preparedness and response measures. Panellists are Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the World Food Programme; Didier Cherpital, Secretary-General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; Bruno Moro, United Nations Coordinator for El Salvador; Saraswathi Menon, United Nations Resident Coordinator for Mongolia; and Ross Mountain, Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.


Statements

ZHANG XIAOAN (China) said that in recent years humanitarian activities had had a significant impact in every part of the world. In 1998 and 1999, ECOSOC had adopted several conclusions on humanitarian activities, elaborating on coordination efforts. This segment was further strengthening humanitarian assistance activities through better coordination. Natural disasters had always been major causes for humanitarian assistance. There needed to be improved disaster prevention policies at the national levels. The Consolidated Appeals process had played an important role in disaster relief, and had increased humanitarian activities by raising new funds. As mentioned in the Secretary-General's report, the national laws of the countries concerned must be respected in situations of humanitarian assistance. OCHA had been effective in aiding humanitarian affairs in the last decade, and it was hoped that it would continue to do so in the coming years.

JEANNETTE NALOUU (South Africa) said the innovative coordinating structures introduced 10 years ago had proven their worth. South Africa welcomed the merging of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affair’s geographical desks dealing with complex emergencies and natural disaster response. The past decade had seen an exponential growth in natural disasters, including some in South Africa's region, with natural calamity hitting its neighbours Mozambique and Malawi particularly hard. The response to repeated flooding in Mozambique, while heartening and appreciated, also vividly demonstrated the collective inability of the system to cope swiftly, efficiently, and equitably with disasters in all parts of the globe. More encouraging was the obvious willingness of the United Nations to learn lessons from that catastrophe and to recognize the need for more effective contingency planning, local and regional disaster management capacity and regional disaster response mechanisms.

South Africa strongly endorsed the appointment of a regional disaster response advisor for southern Africa. It looked forward as well to speedy deployment of UNDP regional disaster_reduction advisors. The country was concerned about the intensification of complex emergencies and it welcomed efforts to improve staff security.

OUEDRAOGO YOUSSOUFOU (Burkina Faso) said that since its inception, experience had shown that the United Nations was able to coordinate relief efforts for nations affected by natural disasters and armed conflicts. Nowadays, the United Nations was one of the main providers in the international community of humanitarian assistance, providing food, shelter and medicines to affected peoples. However, there were serious difficulties encountered that reduced the United Nations’ effectiveness in these areas, including a financial shortage from donors, and more intense and bloodier conflicts. In the face of these obstacles, the international community should act swiftly to help humanitarian operations. The international community should also provide political efforts to defuse conflicts and to promote peace and stability. Burkina Faso experienced droughts through a cyclical nature. In order to prevent food crises, it worked with both the World Food Programme and the Food and Agricultural Organization. The strengthening of coordination of United Nations operations was imperative, and that was what this Council should focus on in this session.

ALEXANDER SLABY (the Czech Republic) said that in Central Europe the majority of the national committees working during the United Nations International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction had continued their activities through the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR). In addition, the Czech Republic had initiated the establishment of the Central European Disaster Prevention Organization (CEUDIP), which included associated representatives of national hydrological and meteorological services. CEUDIP had become a forum for regional cooperation, serving for the exchange of "best practices" and practical cooperation, for example in the implementation of crisis laws and unified crisis management.

In 2000, the Czech Republic had provided humanitarian assistance in 26 cases around the world in the form of financial and material aid and through the sending of rescue teams. Material assistance was mainly the provision of food, medicine, medical equipment and essential supplies. This assistance had been provided in cooperation with non-governmental organizations. Several rescue teams also were sent in 2000 to provide assistance to disaster-stricken areas.

FAYZA ABOULNAGA (Egypt) said that her country supported the Secretary-General's decision to put humanitarian assistance at the forefront in light of the increasing number of natural disasters and armed conflicts which destroyed infrastructure and compounded the problems of refugees. But it was to always be remembered that humanitarian interventions should always respect the affected countries’ national sovereignty.

In the occupied Palestinian territories, it was hoped that the Secretary-General's report would make reference to the repression and suppression that was being carried out by Israeli forces in front of the eyes of the entire world. There had been nine months of vandalism and destruction that had been described by a UN organ as unprecedented. When addressing the plight of civilians in the time of war, it must be on the basis of the international principles of law, as outlined in the Fourth Geneva Convention. Internally displaced persons constituted a large part of the population that should be covered by the Fourth Geneva Convention. Egypt also underlined that it was important for the General Assembly to play a leading role in the follow-up of humanitarian assistance operations. The delegation also said funds and resources allocated for the humanitarian activities should not be at the expense of aid that was going toward developing countries already. It was noted that there had been a drop in recent years in voluntary humanitarian assistance.

MARCO BALAREGO (Peru) said his country had suffered from a devastating type of natural disaster -- an earthquake had killed hundreds of people and had left 200,000 injured, as well as destroying vital infrastructure. In such circumstances immediate emergency assistance was needed as well as transition aid, and Peru wished to thank the United Nations and many countries for the assistance they had provided. Peru trusted that reconstruction efforts would continue to be supported by the United Nations, the international community, and the international financial institutions.

The United Nations system now had a high level of efficiency in responding to emergency situations. The guiding principles followed continued to be relevant. Still, some weaknesses had to be looked at. The relevant revolving fund should be expanded to include humanitarian assistance and emergency situations and the protection of United Nations staff. Early, coordinated response by the system was essential, carried out in close consultation with the nation involved. Early warning and prevention measures had to be further developed, and longer-term relief especially needed to be expanded -- humanitarian assistance had to have a long-term viewpoint and had to support sustainable development in the target region. More attention had to be paid to problems of internal displacement and to the effects of trafficking in small arms, along with other problems.

THEMBA N. MASUKU, of the Food and Agriculture Organization, said FAO was not one of the organizations that undertook immediate life-saving activities. Rather, it came in when rural populations affected by disasters, be they natural or man-made, needed to pick up their lives and reconstruct their livelihoods. FAO's contribution to these efforts included assessments of the expected food production levels, of the available food supplies and of the needs for agriculture inputs to get the production back to, or if possible beyond, pre-crisis level.

It was important to support emergency agriculture assistance for three main reasons -- getting food production back on track; allowing affected populations to feed themselves even if the access of the humanitarian community to them was cut off; and enabling affected people to return to normalcy. Food production was more cost effective than food distribution -- a single kilo of seed could produce between 30 and 100 kilos of food. Like others, funding was a major concern for FAO. But it should be added that the picture for FAO was not totally bleak. In fact, thanks to the generosity and confidence of its donors, the funding base for FAO's emergency projects had doubled every year for the last three years.. This year it hoped to reach 30 per cent coverage of the amounts requested by FAO through the consolidated UN appeals. That, however, still left 70 per cent of urgent needs uncovered.

C. E. ZELACI (Algeria) said emergency response was a multi-faceted challenge, reflecting the dangers and the forced march of history towards a hierarchy of international actors; current international instruments and practices had deficiencies that had to be rectified. There had to be a broader category of beneficiaries of such assistance, including internally displaced persons. Such assistance should not focus just on crises but should be aimed at the long-term; people should not be abandoned after the emergency phase -- it took a long time to return to normal. Security -- especially food security -- also was vital for the victims of disasters and emergencies.

Silent disasters, such as disease, needed greater attention. Developing countries, especially African countries, were most affected by natural disasters which accounted for 90 per cent of victims. Interventions were needed before, during and after, and Algeria welcomed the efforts to have coordination teams intervene in such crises. Algeria at this point wanted to mention the crisis affecting the Palestinian people which more than ever required international involvement and assistance. It also was necessary to increase the security protection of United Nations relief staff.

BERND NIEHAUS (Costa Rica) said humanitarian assistance was perhaps the most important and fruitful work done by the United Nations -- whether it was providing shelter and safety for refugees and natural disasters, or clean water to those affected by drought. Sadly, the emergencies were constantly on the rise. There had been an increase of natural disasters and complex situations in recent years. This disasters had exacerbated poverty, wiping out many years of hard work in which many areas were enjoying development.

There was an urgent need to create a culture of prevention. In the next few years, there would be more natural disasters because of climate changes. If firm strategies of prevention and early warning could be formulated, it could lessen the impact of natural disasters. Costa Rica was concerned about the growing inequality in terms of vulnerability and being able to recover from disasters. The most fragile States were the ones that could least afford preventive measures, and yet they were the ones being most affected by these disasters. Armed conflicts put serious obstacles in the way of humanitarian assistance, and there needed to be ways to deal with these types of emergencies. The only way to prevent humanitarian emergencies brought on by armed conflicts was to eliminate the structures that caused armed conflicts. That included the respect of fundamental rights, and an economic climate in which every person's basic needs could be met.

HORACIO SOLARI (Argentina) said there was a need for clear political will on the part of States to address the problems facing the humanitarian response system. The exponential growth in the number of national disasters over the last decade had overwhelmed the Governments and the capacities of developing countries -- a recent painful example could be seen in the earthquake that had struck Peru. The number of armed conflicts had also increased sharply, and civilians were often the primary targets. Should the United Nations remain idle during such violations of human rights if they took place within national borders? It was true that issues of territorial integrity and non-intervention in internal affairs were important, but Argentina felt another principle should be added to the package -- the principle of "non-indifference".

These new humanitarian emergencies put the United Nations system and international community in a difficult position -- one where the current package of responses was not effective. More economic aid had to be provided to developing countries so that they could get themselves back on the road to development. And aid had to continue after the emergency and the publicity it received was over. Political action had to be taken to solve existing conflicts and the safety of humanitarian personnel had to be ensured.

NABIN B. SHRESTMA (Nepal) said that year after year, the number and scale of complex emergencies expanded in the forms of protracted conflicts and natural, environmental or other disasters causing serious humanitarian consequences. In such situations, it was the civilians, particularly women, children and other vulnerable groups, who were affected most, as they often lacked the capacity to defend themselves and to access humanitarian assistance, health services and other facilities. Reaching out to them was the most difficult challenge for Governments and United Nations humanitarian agencies. Although the national authorities had the primary responsibility for protecting civilians in conflicts and disasters, as well as coordinating relief, repatriation and rehabilitation efforts, the United Nations should take the lead when Governments had no resources or capacities to respond, and more so when Governments were ineffective or non-existent.

Protecting refugees and internally displaced persons affected by armed conflicts or disasters constituted the overwhelming caseload of United Nations humanitarian agencies. The range of activities included protecting civilians; providing them with relief; helping them relocate, repatriate and rehabilitate; and providing logistics such as health, education, employment and other facilities to the needy. As a country providing refuge to more than 100,000 refugees, Nepal was aware of the pain of refugees and of the trauma they had to endure. It was prepared to work with other countries and the United Nations humanitarian agencies to prevent humanitarian crises and to deal appropriately with them when they occurred.

IMTIAZ HUSSAIN (Pakistan) said the principles of safe and unhindered access for humanitarian aid to all needy and vulnerable people must be guaranteed, and humanitarian staff must be able to carry out their work in safety. The post-Cold War era had seen a proliferation of conflicts and natural disasters, causing great loss of life and frustrating hopes for peace, development, and global prosperity. Most of these humanitarian catastrophes had taken place and had extremely lingering effects in the world's poorest countries. Early warning capabilities and preparation of contingency plans were important steps for curtailing damage and for preventing the deterioration of disaster situations.

Donors needed to provide the needed resources to allow the Office of the Emergency Relief Coordinator, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee and the revolving fund to prepare effective responses. The decline in donor contributions was a matter of great concern. The root causes of conflict had to be addressed or peace and development would not be maintained. Response to national calamities must be rapid and sustained. The issue of internally displaced persons needed to be addressed urgently, and steps had to be taken to allow the world's many refugees to return to their home countries, and to compensate developing countries which hosted large numbers of refugees.

SERGII YAMPOLSKY (Ukraine) said the Government shared the Secretary-General's concern regarding the increasing number of emergency situations in different parts of the world, caused by conflicts, natural and other disasters. Recent years had also witnessed a substantive growth in security incidents involving humanitarian staff from different United Nations agencies and other organizations, as well as the vulnerable population they assisted. Since 1991, the humanitarian community had had to operate in rapidly changing and deteriorating humanitarian environments. Ukraine welcomed the measures taken by the Secretary-General to enhance humanitarian coordination by developing different mechanisms for achieving the United Nations humanitarian goals and for linking different aspects of its humanitarian mandate into broader development and peace-building frameworks.

The international community should continue to form more efficient United Nations emergency humanitarian assistance systems, ensuring its universal nature and capacity to respond to the needs of all groups of countries. It was important, in particular, to secure the effective coordination among different agencies involved, to continue strengthening an early warning function of the United Nations system, as well as the Consolidated Appeals process, and to reinforce the role of the Emergency Relief Coordinator. The delegation also appreciated the greater involvement of the UN Security Council in the issues pertaining to the humanitarian agenda, including protection of civilians and children in armed conflicts. The United Nations system had accumulated broad experience, sufficient to evaluate both positive and negative consequences of the sanctions mechanism. It was imperative to identify clearly the purposes, conditions and tools of imposition and elimination of sanctions, as well as to address the item of minimizing negative effects of Security Council sanctions on the non-targeted States.

JACQUI DELACY (Australia) said her country supported efforts to strengthen the capacity of the United Nations system to address the needs of internally displaced persons, and it encouraged the Emergency Relief Coordinator to coordinate with the efforts of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to address conflict prevention and peace building to facilitate a smooth transition from relief and reconstruction to longer-term sustainable development. Australia shared concern that the Consolidated Appeals process (CAP) had seen a fall-off in contributions, and noted the critical importance of ensuring that the process was focused firmly on core needs and essential requirements -- lack of such discipline in the past partly explained the current underfunding.

Australia strongly supported efforts to strengthen prevention, preparedness and response capabilities; supported the focus on the gender dimensions of humanitarian assistance; and recently had agreed to donate 100,000 Australian dollars to a United Nations study on the impact of armed conflict on women and girls, the role of women in peace building and the gender dimensions of peace processes and conflict resolution. The country also strongly favoured greater measures to increase the security of humanitarian field staff.

LEUS XAVIER, of the World Health Organization, said that over the past year, surviving through extreme events for an unacceptable number of people, be these circumstances conflict, displacement, floods or earthquakes, had become the predominant objective in a daily existence. Following the landmark resolution 46/182, the World Health Assembly had passed a resolution defining WHO's role as a founding member of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee. WHO's responsibility was to focus on reducing the avoidable death and suffering that resulted from any natural or man-made disaster.

The determinants of life and death in armed conflicts were well-highlighted by different studies, including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Health problems accounted for the largest part of the suffering, and most people died of preventable causes -- malnutrition, linked to infectious diseases and simple childhood illness, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and deaths linked to pregnancy and childbirth. At the same time, global interests converging around health provided unique opportunities. HIV/AIDS commanded global attention as a global security threat. The need to eradicate polio from its last abodes provided resources for what was left of local health systems in countries ravaged by long wars. For WHO, there was a challenge to capitalize on the commonality of interests between the international health and humanitarian communities.

S. L. N. RAO, of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said UNFPA was a relatively new actor in the humanitarian sector and a relatively recent member of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee. For some time, the organization had been promoting access to reproductive health services for refugees and internally displaced persons. Pregnant women continued to give birth during crises, and good health care had to be provided to them despite the unstable environments of refugee camps and camps for the internally displaced. In addition, in such camps, young women in particular needed information and materials related to reproductive health; they should also be protected from sexual and gender-based violence which occurred all too frequently.

It was vital to support and recognize the role of women in conflict prevention and peace_building; to take steps to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS at times of war and displacement; to have extensive coordination between various disaster-relief agencies; and to pursue disarmament and reintegration programmes, all of which had effects on the spread of HIV/AIDS. A guide available in several languages on reproductive health issues had been issued by UNFPA, and the agency also conducted training for reproductive health professionals caught up in humanitarian crises.

PIERRE-YVES SIMONIN (the Sovereign Military Order of Malta) said humanitarian assistance and disaster relief were areas in which the Sovereign Military Order of Malta was active internationally. The Emergency Corps of Malta (ECOM) had been active in El Salvador in 1998 because of Hurricane Mitch, in Turkey following the earthquake in 1999, and in India after the earthquake earlier this year. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta welcomed the establishment of a monitoring committee that had the ability to enter into consultations with competent national bodies that provided assistance and expertise in this area. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta possessed specialized services and was well-trained, and would make itself available.

TOLGA KAYA (Turkey) said that disasters in heavily populated areas had increased the need for improving search and rescue capabilities as well as the need for better international coordination and cooperation. Effective and rapid deployment of search and rescue teams was an essential element for reducing the loss of life. To improve such efforts, existing guidelines needed to be transformed into a legally binding international set of norms. An initiative had been undertaken to mobilize international support for the drafting and establishment of an International Urban Search and Rescue Convention.

A core group had been formed by countries supporting this idea and two meetings had been held in Geneva -- in February and June 2001. Turkey, as a member of the core group, expressed its appreciation for the progress achieved so far and hoped the project would proceed effectively. It also hoped the Secretary-General would provide a detailed study on the subject to the General Assembly.

B. S. BISHNOI (India) said his country appreciated the continuous efforts to improve the Consolidated Appeals process. However, there had been a steady downward trend in the financing of this process. An increase of at least $ 3 billion per annum was called for. Uneven funding was also related to the political predilections of donors. This was extremely unfortunate as humanitarian assistance, by its very definition, should not be allowed to become an instrument for exercising political pressure. Funding for natural disasters was disproportionately inadequate as compared to that for complex emergencies. There was, therefore, gratification to note that the Secretary-General had proposed that the General Assembly consider expanding the use of the Central Emergency Revolving Fund to support humanitarian assistance in natural disasters.

Development assistance, in the long term, reduced the need for emergency humanitarian assistance and even for special development assistance. There was a difference between natural hazard and natural disaster. Drought, for example, was a natural hazard, and was therefore, unavoidable. It need not, however, inevitably lead to disaster. Famine could be avoided through long-term development assistance, which would make the socio-economic system resilient to the impact of natural disaster. This truly would be a culture of prevention. The Secretary-General's report stated clearly that the United Nations roles in peace and security and humanitarian affairs
were distinct. It was imperative that this distinction between the political, peace keeping, human rights and humanitarian work of the United Nations be maintained. This was crucial if the trust which the UN system enjoyed in the field of humanitarian assistance was to be retained.

VICTOR MANUEL LAGOS PIZZATI (El Salvador) said the Central American region was very vulnerable to natural disasters, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and storms; the risks that these disasters represented had increased considerably because of the impact of human activity on the environment and the existence of more and more vulnerable settlements. El Salvador had suffered two considerable earthquakes at the start of the year, along with thousands of aftershocks that had caused panic; in addition the rainy season had just started -- fortunately, landslides had been reduced through effective measures. Many housing units had been built in a short time to provide shelter for persons made homeless by the disasters. Electricity, water, sewage, and transport infrastructure had been affected. El Salvador had managed to raise extensive financing in loans and foreign aid but still had to raise considerably more to pay for massive reconstruction.

The Government was undertaking major efforts to reduce its vulnerability to natural disasters and to improve its responses. Improvement in coordination was vital, and painful sacrifices would be required. El Salvador wished to express its gratitude for the international support it had received following recent natural disasters, and called for continuing assistance.

ANDRZEJ SADOS (Poland) said it should be remembered that last year, the Secretary_General, in his report to the humanitarian segment of ECOSOC, had made recommendations that a comprehensive set of guidelines covering all phases of international emergency response operations -- from preparedness to activation -- should be transformed into a legally binding document. One of the main reasons for the necessity of such a legal transformation was the problem the urban search and rescue community faced today -- in the confusion created by the massive international response to major disasters, existing guidelines were not always or not fully applied. The draft proposal did not violate international law and the sovereignty of the State. Poland was ready to continue efforts aiming at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of international urban search and rescue assistance, and would like to request the Secretary-General to produce a document updating the General Assembly on progress achieved so far.

YOLANDA PASEA (Madagascar) said the cycle of cyclones that frequently devastated Madagascar made the country very interested in disaster-response issues. Over the past 15 years, there had been some 15 cyclones, of which six had been especially devastating, causing great flooding and considerable loss of life. Infrastructure damage also tended to be extensive. The country, in addition, was vulnerable to drought. The Government had long struggled to prevent disasters and to respond effectively when they occurred. The international community and the United Nations had shown great solidarity in helping Madagascar by providing funds and technical assistance.

Governments held primary responsibility for coping with humanitarian crises. But it was true that natural disasters particularly affected developing countries, and such countries already faced extreme poverty and other serious problems. Finding the resources to fund preventive measures and to rebuild after disasters was often beyond them. Relief work went far beyond responding to an immediate crisis. The international community must do more, despite its extensive efforts to date, to increase the resources set aside for humanitarian assistance.


OLMEDA RIVERA RAMIREZ (Honduras) said the country was absolutely certain that political will was the starting point in disaster relief, and the first step in humanitarian aid and assistance. Honduras was grateful to the international community for redoubling efforts to mobilize financial and social resources that would allow the country to continue to develop. There was instability in Honduras from armed rebel groups, and there were many anti-personnel landmines. But there was strong political will, and people who had been displaced were helped to return to their homes. Honduras was still vulnerable to disasters, but it was continuing to promote democracy and to build peace in the country.

When Hurricane Mitch struck two years ago, the Government drew up an economic and social plan targeting the most vulnerable groups in the country that needed help and protection. One of the main conclusions of the reconstruction plan was that rebuilding should be inclusive -- local governments had to be given a leading role in the design of the rebuilt areas. The lessons learnt by Honduras had shown that destructive events could be dealt with, especially if they were dealt with before the disaster. It was important to know the potential dangers, and what to do if disaster were to strike.

ALHOUSSEINE THIAM (Guinea) said it was clear that there was an urgent need for the international community to take up the humanitarian challenges posed by natural disasters and armed conflicts. Guinea was a major country of asylum -- it had some 700,000 refugees from neighbouring countries who had been there for more than a decade, and it knew of the stress and expenses involved in such humanitarian crises. Guinea could not alone, despite a long-standing tradition of solidarity, assure full protection for such a large population, nor could it assure security for its own population and for humanitarian staff, especially in the face of repeated aggression against its territory. The international community needed to do more to help the country and other countries in similar situations. Over 300 recent attacks against Guinean territory had sent hundreds of thousands of persons fleeing to urban areas.

Guinea would like to organize a round table discussion on the situation of the country and its refugees. It wished to repeat its commitment to establishing a climate of durable peace and stability, and of coordination and cooperation.



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