UN clarifies its role on displaced people

After four months of discussions, the United Nations has clarified the role and responsibilities of its different agencies and departments in ensuring that the rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are upheld and that they receive adequate assistance. Concensus was reached in Rome on Wednesday at a meeting of the Inter Agency Standing Committeen (IASC), which includes the heads of UN agencies, international organisations, NGO networks and the Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Displaced Persons. "Primary responsibility for protection and assistance to civilians in crises of internal displacement lies with the national authorities of the affected countries," said an IASC policy paper endorsed at the meeting. "However, the capacity and/or willingness of the authorities to fulfil their responsibilities is often insufficient or even lacking. Under such circumstances, the international community needs to support and supplement the efforts of the Government and the local authorities." According to the IASC, the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC), who is also the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, is responsible for "global advocacy on protection and assistance, resource mobilisation, global information on IDPs and ensuring that field arrangements are adequately supported." Thomas Linde, senior adviser for IDPs in the UN Office for the Coordination of Humantarian Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN: "This means that the ERC has overall responsibility for IDPs within the UN system." At the field level, the IASC invested responsibility for IDPs in the UN official responsible for overall humanitarian coordination. "By adopting the Supplementary Guidance the IASC has got rid of a number of ambiguities that have plagued the UN system for years," Linde said. "We hope that this will enable country teams to act more effectively on the ground," he added. In January, US Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke criticised the United Nations for its global response to the needs of IDPs and suggested a reform of its institutional arrangements.