Assembly assesses new humanitarian aid system.

Noting the increasing number and complexity of humanitarian crises which are demanding ever greater international resources and cooperation, the General Assembly on 22 December asked the Secretary-General to review the effectiveness of the new UN humanitarian assistance system, including the new Department of Humanitarian Affairs, a high-level Emergency Relief Coordinator and a $50-million Central Emergency Revolving Fund created by the world body in 1991.

Under resolution 47/168, the Secretary-General was asked to report on arrangements to provide the UN with better access to the emergency relief capacities of the international community, ways to improve UN capability in preventing and preparing for emergencies, and the possibility of establishing warehouses for emergency relief supplies at regional and global levels.

The first seven months of existence of the Department of Humanitarian Affairs--headed by Under-Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, who is also the Emergency Relief Coordinator--has coincided "with an extraordinary increase in civil and ethnic strife, requiring ever increasing humanitarian relief assistance" from the UN, the Secretary-General reported (A/14/7/595).

Mr. Eliasson has noted that providing emergency relief in situations of natural disaster is difficult enough, but operations become infinitely more complex when a country is ravaged by political conflict, as has been the case in Afghanistan, Iraq, Liberia, Mozambique, Azerbaijan, Somalia, Sudan and the former Yugoslavia.

"Far-reaching changes internationally and within the United Nations are essential if the world wishes to minimize the suffering of populations trapped by civil-war induced starvation", said Mr. Eliasson. "Member States need to decide whether, and then how, the United Nations should be equipped to provide humanitarian relief in situations of large-scale violence."

New department

Since its establishment, the primary tasks of the Department have included: mobilizing international support for emergencies; preparing programmes of humanitarian assistance and consolidated appeals; convening pledging meetings to mobilize resources; establishing national structures for coordination of assistance in response to emergency situations; negotiating agreements with Governments and concerned parties for access by relief organizations; and monitoring implementation of the assistance programme in each emergency situation.

A new feature of UN humanitarian activities is the increased involvement of the Security Council, which regularly accords high priority to ensuring the safe and effective delivery of relief assistance. Indeed, in a milestone resolution adopted in December on Somalia, the Council authorized for the first time ever the use of force to safeguard and ensure delivery of humanitarian relief.

Recognizing the need to strengthen further international responses to growing humanitarian challenges and to promote durable solutions, the Assembly on 16 December called on Governments to provide information and expertise on humanitarian issues to identify opportunities for future action.

Specific requests

Regarding specific requests for assistance, the Assembly: underlined the urgent need for accelerated delivery of humanitarian assistance to all parts of Somalia and decided to establish a UN scholarship programme for Somali university undergraduate students whose studies have been disrupted by the civil strife: asked for an assessment of needs for the reconstruction and development of war-torn Croatia; urged support for the peace-building process in Mozambique, including assistance for the electoral process, emergency rehabilitation of refugees and displaced persons, and demobilization of armed forces; called for generous contributions, particularly of non-food items, to the relief efforts in Sudan; and asked for continuation of the study and mitigation of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, taking into account the subsequent social, economic and other changes that have occurred in the countries most affected by the disaster.

Financial, economic, technical and humanitarian assistance was also requested for Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, the Central African Republic, Djibouti, El Salvador, Lebanon, Liberia, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Vanuatu, Yemen, the front-line States in southern Africa and the Palestinian people.