75th United Nations General Assembly

Agenda item 73 (a) to (d) 

“Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance of the United Nations, including special economic assistance” 

JOINT STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF INDIA AND SWEDEN 

by

Ambassador K Nagaraj Naidu

Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN

11 December 2020

Mr. President, 

It is my privilege to deliver a Joint Statement on behalf of India and Sweden on this important issue. 

2. We would first like to pay tribute to the tens of thousands of UN humanitarian and medical personnel around the world, who have been at the frontlines of  our joint response to the COVID-19 pandemic, often at immense personal risk and sacrifice.

3. India and Sweden share a strong commitment to strengthen the United Nations system to respond to the complex humanitarian challenges of our time.

4. The humanitarian crises of today are more complex and protracted, and place higher demands on the international community. Greater coordination and complementarity in action among various humanitarian actors is therefore, crucial.

5. The latest Global Humanitarian Overview report, released just a few days ago, is a sobering document. Humanitarian emergencies – primarily driven by natural disasters and armed conflicts, but compounded this year by the COVID-19 pandemic  have reached a new high. 

6. The pandemic has triggered the deepest global recession since the 1930s. Extreme poverty has risen for the first time in 22 years, the unemployment situation has worsened. Women and young people aged 15 – 29 working in the informal sector have been  hit the hardest. Almost 24 million children, adolescents and young people are at risk of not returning to school, including 11 million girls and young women.

7. Amid this bleak outlook however, the report does have some positive takeaways as well. 

8. First, despite facing dire employment prospects and the impacts of COVID-19, we have seen that the youth have mobilized at an unprecedented scale in response to the crisis. This is an opportunity for the humanitarian system to better integrate the perspectives and leadership of young people into humanitarian action.

9. Second, increased global internet access coupled with and new innovative technologies offer the potential to improve humanitarian action. For example, artificial intelligence is being used for outbreak mapping, drones are delivering medical supplies and testing samples, and 3D printers are helping the production of face shields, PPE kits and ventilators.

10. Third, collaboration between humanitarian, development and peacebuilding efforts has increased during the pandemic. The localization of humanitarian work has also been strengthened. Building on this will help meet the needs of those targeted for humanitarian assistance in the future.

11. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that in 2021, 235 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection. That is essentially 1 in 33 people worldwide needs help. The UN and its partner organizations aim to help 160 million people  across 56 countries, which will require USD 35 billion – the highest ever humanitarian funding requirement.

12. The persistent shortfall in financing of humanitarian appeals remains a challenge. We call upon Member States to consider increasing their contribution to UN humanitarian assistance system, including the Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19, country-based pooled funds, and the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), to which India and Sweden are long-standing donors. We would also like to emphasise the value of non-earmarked flexible funding and predictable support to our humanitarian partners.

Mr President,

13. India and Sweden reaffirm that humanitarian principles and international law provide the basis for humanitarian assistance. We remain committed to preserving the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence in responding to all humanitarian situations. 

14. The primary responsibility for providing protection and assistance in a humanitarian crisis lies with the country concerned. The international humanitarian assistance must be provided impartially, in accordance with the guiding principles in General Assembly resolution 46/182 and subsequent resolutions.

15. While UN agencies and its partners are responding commendably to several complex emergencies, evolving a coherent and comprehensive approach remains a significant challenge. Greater coordination is required to achieve effective and context-tailored responses, which facilitate greater participation of local actors.

16. Repeated violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law are persistent challenges. Parties to armed conflicts, including non-state actors, continue to flout international humanitarian law and perpetrate human rights abuses with impunity. We must continue to strengthen the international cooperation framework to bring perpetrators to justice. Women and children need special measures for their protection. 

17. We believe that our approach to humanitarian response must put those affected at the very centre   - this ensures respect for human dignity, as well as flexibility to make choices on the goods and services that affected populations need the most. 

18. We also need to continue our efforts in developing a multi-sectoral needs assessment as well as building strong databases to enhance effectiveness, accountability and transparency of humanitarian action.

19. The need for greater complementarity between humanitarian action and development cooperation is well recognized. Development action by national governments and the international community should focus on reducing risk and vulnerability which will contribute to building resilience and capacity. 

20. Access for and protection of humanitarian workers, especially in situations of armed conflict, remain a concern. Attacks on humanitarian personnel are unacceptable, and we welcome the resolution on “Safety and Security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnel”. 

21. All humanitarian actors must strictly adhere to the policy of zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, and ensure that the victims are provided adequate protection. 

Mr President, 

22. Guided by its ancient philosophy of viewing the world as one family, India has been at the forefront of supporting  fellow developing countries through assistance and relief efforts in humanitarian emergencies, including natural disasters. These efforts have ranged from immediate supply of relief materials to emergency evacuation of very large numbers of persons of various nationalities from affected zones. 

21. During the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, India emerged as a net provider of health security and successfully shouldered its responsibility as the ‘pharmacy of the world’, sending consignments of medicines and medical supplies to over 150 partner countries. As a responsible member of the world community, India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis.  

22. Going ahead, we need to look beyond immediate relief and rehabilitation. India remains committed to address the challenges of complex humanitarian emergencies through building disaster resilient infrastructure. It is in this context that India has taken the initiative to launch the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure in partnership with several other countries, during the 2019 Climate Action Summit.

23. In the face of the unprecedented increase in humanitarian needs largely linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sweden has responded and acted. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Swedish government has provided close to 200 million US Dollars of additional unearmarked humanitarian funding. Sweden is proud to remain one of the largest donors to the UN humanitarian system. 

24. In line with its Grand Bargain commitments, Sweden will continue to provide major UN agencies such as WFP, UNRWA, UNHCR, UNICEF and CERF with multi-year core funding. The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated the importance of flexible humanitarian funding.  It allows for timely, independent, effective and efficient humanitarian action and that is why Sweden strongly believes this is the right path to pursue and encourages other donors to follow. 

25.  Sweden and India remain particularly concerned by the impact of the pandemic on hunger. The award for this year’s Nobel Peace prize to the World Food Programme is highly deserved and constitutes an urgent call to action, with increasing hunger and several countries now on the brink of conflict-induced famine. The cycle of conflict and hunger, recognised by UN Security Council resolution 2417, must be broken. Sweden is proud to be a key partner and top donor of WFP and has topped its funding to WFP to record levels to contribute to the fight against hunger across the globe. 

Mr President,

26. The creativity and magnitude of our response must match the unique nature of the challenge. The choices we make now will determine how soon we build back better from the crisis. We – India and Sweden – reiterate our commitment to work with all member states to ensure a unified and robust response to the world's humanitarian challenges. Our debate today presents an opportunity to send a strong and unified message of support to those in need of humanitarian assistance, and to humanitarian actors worldwide. We therefore call on delegations to adopt the three draft humanitarian resolutions by consensus. 

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