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Statement by H.E. Mr. Hiroshi Minami
Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations

On Agenda item 73(a) to (c):
“Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including special economic assistance”

General Assembly Plenary Meeting
10 December 2015

 

Mr. President,

 

            At the outset, I would like to commend Under-Secretary-General Stephen O’Brien and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for their tireless efforts for emergency humanitarian situations. Their activities are all the more important as we face new and difficult challenges in the humanitarian field.

 

            The world is facing several unprecedented humanitarian crises today. In many parts of the world we are seeing protracted crises, many severe natural disasters, and huge number of displaced people. In addition, climate change is also expected to have an exacerbating impact on disasters related to weather events. As we all know, the Global Humanitarian Overview estimated that US$20.1 billion is required to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance in 2016.

 

Mr. President,

 

            It is obvious that continuing growth of humanitarian funding cannot keep up with humanitarian needs. In addition to that, we must strengthen development assistance in order to implement 2030 Agenda and increase climate finance. It is also apparent that financial contributions from traditional donors alone are simply not enough to match such immense needs. New approaches, such as broadening the donor base and mobilizing domestic resources are important in this context.

 

            Furthermore, we have to address the root causes of humanitarian crises rather than continuously providing only reactive emergency assistance. To this end, we must first strive to find political solutions to protracted conflict-related crises. In this connection, we need to recognize that the Security Council, the instrument which has the primary responsibility to achieve such solutions, has been unable to produce substantive results over the past several years. Japan, as a Member of the Security Council starting from next year, stands ready to make maximum efforts to bear its part of this responsibility.

 

            Second, we should emphasize the importance of prevention of conflicts.  If a conflict arises, the UN will send PKO troops on the ground quite often, but we should remind ourselves that investment in prevention will be less expensive than the cost of PKO.

            Third, both humanitarian and development actors should collaborate closely from the outset, or even before the outbreak of a crisis. We would like to encourage development actors to start their work at the early stage of a crisis.  In the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, the importance of preparedness to future disasters was stressed by many participants. This concept is reflected in many paragraphs in the resolutions we will be adopting today.

 

Mr. President,

 

            The World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul in May 2016 is an ideal opportunity for various stakeholders to gather, discuss and collaborate on common humanitarian issues. Japan is eager to contribute to the summit process toward Istanbul in order to find durable solutions for, among others, protracted displacement issues, through cooperating with development and humanitarian actors as well as host communities.

 

            In this regard, we take note that the process towards Istanbul and the expected outcome of the Summit have gradually been made clearer by the Secretariat in recent weeks. We expect them to be further clarified. We also strongly hope that the Summit process will adequately engage the Member States so that they can feel a sense of ownership in the process and the Summit itself.

Mr. President,

 

            In concluding my statement, allow me to stress that Japan, as a strong advocate of human security, will continue to work for the further improvement of humanitarian situations all over the world. We are looking forward to working with various stakeholders such as the Member States and UN agencies for the important upcoming events next year, especially the World Humanitarian Summit in May and the Summit on Migrants and Refugees in September.

 

I thank you very much, Mr. President.