The number of people
affected by humanitarian crises has almost doubled in the past decade. The
United Nations and its partners continue to respond to humanitarian needs and
emergencies resulting from conflict and/or global challenges such as climate
change and environmental degradation.
The UN system is
currently responding to four 'L3' emergencies. They are: in Iraq, where the surge in violence between
armed groups and government forces has resulted in an estimated 1.9 million
internally displaced people across Iraq and left hundreds of thousands of
people in need of assistance; in Syria, where millions of
people are in need of humanitarian assistance, where many are trapped in hard
to reach areas and more than US$ 5 billion is still needed in 2014 to meet the
most urgent needs; in the Central
African Republic,
where over the past year, the country has experienced a major political crisis
which has resulted in a violent conflict that has affected nearly the entire
population and has left some 2.5 million people, over half the population, in
dire need of assistance; and in South Sudan, where 1.7 million
people have been displaced and around 4 million face alarming food insecurity
as a result of the fighting that started in December 2013.
Other
critical concentration areas include Burundi political crises, Nepal Earthquake, West Africa Ebola outbreak, Somalia and Central
American drought.
Nearly 85 percent of the world’s young people
live in developing countries, where most humanitarian crises occur. However,
the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of these young people are widely
unmet. Natural and man-made emergencies can disrupt the family, social, and
economic structures that young people depend on, placing them at risk of
poverty, violence, and sexual exploitation and abuse. In situations where education
and health services are lacking or have been suspended, young people are left
without access to SRH information and services and at the same time face higher
SRH risks, such as substance abuse, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV
infection, unwanted pregnancy, and unsafe abortion.
In response to these crises, new actors have
taken a larger part in humanitarian action and various partnership models have
arisen, including cash-transfer programmes and remote management of operations
by using local organizations and partners to deliver assistance. The rising
scale of needs, the persistence of protracted crises and the interplay of new
risks have led to a continued global deficit in the capacity of Governments and
humanitarian organizations to respond, suggesting a need for a shift in the way
in which Member States and the United Nations and its partners prepare for and
respond to humanitarian crises towards a more anticipatory approach.
POTENTIAL
SOLUTION
Young people are often seriously affected when
disasters strikes and can face severe difficulties in coping with unexpected
and traumatic interruptions to their lives. But despite this, the world’s youth
are also the very people who can teach their communities - and the wider world
- how to reduce the risks and impact of disasters. Young people are unmatched
by any other demographic group in their ability to bring about meaningful
change in social behaviour and attitudes. We must not underestimate their
potential to make a real difference in the time of disasters.
Young
people must be their unique role and the value they can provide as innovators,
inter-cultural ambassadors, peer-to-peer facilitators, community mobilizers,
and advocates for vulnerable people.
A call to be committed to working on disaster
preparedness, response and recovery, including innovative solutions in areas
such as psychosocial support, advocacy for climate change adaptation, food
security, and access to safe and clean water.
Youth networks are to play critical roles to
raise awareness amongst children and young people about the problems caused by
climate change, provided them with necessary training, and mobilized them
as agents of change in building the resilience of the communities to
recurring drought and famine.
These are just some examples of what can be
achieved when children and young people become aware of their
responsibilities and potential to take an active part in the global
efforts to resolve serious problems faced by humanity.
CONCLUSION
Each
humanitarian disaster has its own set of challenges, and must be responded to
accordingly. Phenomena such as unplanned urbanization, under-development,
poverty and climate change are all factors that can make humanitarian
emergencies more complex, frequent and/or severe.
As the international community prepares for post-2015
development
and disaster risk
reduction
frameworks and the World
Humanitarian Summit in 2016, it will be important to recognize that development cannot
be sustainable unless the risk of crises is addressed proactively as a joint
priority.
Global challenges, such as climate change,
environmental degradation, rapid population growth and unplanned urbanization,
are all contributing to people's increasing vulnerability to natural disasters.
These trends will alter the landscape of future environmental disasters and
humanitarian crises. There is a critical need to help countries and communities
to better adapt and quickly recover when such emergencies occur. 2015
marks the launch of post-2015 global agreement on sustainable development, disaster
risk reduction and climate change. In 2016, the World
Humanitarian Summit
will develop the outcomes of these processes, exploring how humanitarian needs
can be tackled in a fast-changing world
