The role of the United Nations in humanitarian emergencies
Article Civil protection
Humanitarian aid includes measures that serve to protect and provide for people in an emergency situation. It extends beyond the scope of first aid and rescue from immediate danger.
This is where the United Nations comes in.
Protecting and providing for people in an emergency is a central topic on the agenda of the United Nations. One of the priorities of the United Nations is to coordinate humanitarian aid in emergencies caused by natural disasters, armed conflicts or political change.
Based on a resolution by the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations has established a separate office for this purpose: the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), with headquarters in New York and Geneva.
If humanitarian aid is needed in a specific region, the United Nations contacts the ministries for foreign affairs; in Germany this would be the Federal Foreign Office. Germany provides humanitarian aid abroad through well-established relief organisations such as the German Red Cross or the Federal Agency for Technical Relief.
Mitigating the impact of disasters
In 2015, the United Nations agreed on a common framework in Sendai, Japan, which aims to significantly reduce the risks and impacts of disasters by 2030.
Together with many stakeholders from other federal ministries, the federal states, municipalities, relief and aid organisations, private industry, academia and research, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community and the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance are working to ensure that Germany achieves the goals agreed under the Sendai Framework.
This includes:
- reducing global disaster mortality
- minimising the number of people affected globally
- reducing economic loss directly caused by disasters
- reducing damage to critical infrastructure, including by strengthening resilience
- increasing the number of countries with national and local strategies for disaster reduction
- increasing international cooperation for developing countries
- increasing the availability of and access to all-hazards early warning systems
In Germany, we can build on the existing comprehensive civil protection system. Many requirements outlined in the Sendai Framework can be met within existing structures. However, the Sendai Framework provides an opportunity for reviewing existing disaster preparedness procedures and for developing new approaches where appropriate. This will help to further improve Germany’s system, too.
