Humanitarian Action in the 21st Century

A book demonstrating the relief community’s commitment to a common humanitarian vision was launched by senior humanitarian officials at UN headquarters on Thursday.

Titled “Humanitarian Action in the 21st Century” the publication provides a glimpse into the thinking of the executive heads of the 16 leading agencies and non-governmental consortia that make up the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC).

“For the first time, the heads of relief agencies have come together and shared their common vision of humanitarian action,” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator a.i. Carolyn McAskie said. “This is the most public effort we have made to publicise our work,” she added.

The director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Paul Grossrieder, said at the launch: “It is by being close to one another that we can save our individual identities.”

The UN General Assembly set up the IASC in 1991 in response to the spate of humanitarian emergencies throughout the world. Chaired by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, it brings together the UN family, the Red Cross Movement and three groupings of major international NGOs.

The IASC is one of the mechanisms through which the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) discharges its coordination functions. It facilitates inter-agency decision-making through the allocation of responsibilites, the identification of gaps and the development of common humanitarian principles, according to OCHA.