PHL AMBASSADOR SHARES PHILIPPINE EXPERIENCE IN MANAGING PRINCIPLED HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE 11 June 2014 - Ambassador Cecilia B. Rebong, Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, shared on June 02 the Philippines’ longstanding experience in managing principled humanitarian response during disasters, including the recent experience of the country on Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, at a high-level dialogue between States and humanitarian actors on the topic “Humanitarian principles in a changing world: Still fit for purpose?” “The Philippines supports the humanitarian principles,” Ambassador Rebong stated, adding, “When the country opened its doors to the humanitarian actors, who went to the Philippines to assist the victims of the super typhoon, the humanitarian principles were fully observed.” She stressed that “Trust is very important for the humanitarian principles to live.” The humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence provide the foundations for humanitarian action and are central to establishing and maintaining access to affected people whether in a natural disaster or a complex emergency. The principles of humanity, neutrality, and impartiality are endorsed in General Assembly resolution 46/182, which was adopted in 1991, while the principle of independence was added in the General Assembly resolution 58/114 (2004). The event was organized in order to have a better understanding on the perceptions of States, and gaining their support for facilitating principled humanitarian action and ensuring effective humanitarian intervention. It examined some of the current-day dilemmas in applying principles of humanitarian action to afford better assistance and protection to populations affected by crisis. Hosted by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) at the Director General’s Hall of the ICRC Headquarters in Geneva, the Ambassador was joined at the dialogue by ICRC Director General Yves Daccord, Secretary General of Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland and Ambassador Jorge Lomónaco, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations. Present at the event were members of the diplomatic corps in Geneva and heads/representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international humanitarian organizations. The Philippine Mission in Geneva continues to actively engage the international community in roundtable discussions, debates and fora on States’ and humanitarian actors’ roles in the prevention and response to disasters and in sharing best practices on disaster risk reduction and management and humanitarian assistance. In Manila last week, the Philippines played host to more than 200 senior government officials, scientists, academics, policymakers, industry and business leaders, NGOs, and representatives of regional and international organizations from Asia and Europefor the ASEM Manila Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM). Through the Conference, held from June 4 to 6, participants contributed to the new global architecture on DRRM with the issuance of a document called “The Post-Haiyan Tacloban Declaration” which embodies new policies and principles for DRRM. The Philippines will also play host to the 2nd Disaster Response Dialogue (DRD) in Manila in September of this year. END
Posted on: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 02:49:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015