The African Union Commission (AUC) will take part at the First World Humanitarian Summit to be held from 23 to 24 May 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey. During this event, the African Union will focus on the theme: “One Africa, One Voice, One Message at the World Humanitarian Summit”.

Several side events to initiate actions and commitments which enable countries and communities to prepare for and respond to crises will be organized by the AU Commission in collaboration with partner Organisations such as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA); the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons and Norwegian Refugee Council-Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (NRC/IDMC).

The joint activities will also help to share best practices aimed to save lives around the world while placing affected people at the centre of humanitarian action and alleviating suffering.

H.E. Mr. Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the AUC, is expected to deliver a key note address during the African Union High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Effectiveness in Africa scheduled to take place on 24 May 2016 during the Summit, while H.E Dr. Aisha Laraba Abudullahi, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs will address the issue of “Reforming Africa’s Humanitarian Architecture”, as one of the panelists.

Meanwhile, the Africa Union will seize the opportunity during the Summit in Istanbul to reaffirm its future priorities and unequivocally call for an inclusive, transparent and fairer humanitarian system, as well as renew its call for mutually beneficial partnerships that seek to put humanity at the fore by enhancing collective ownership of the proposed Agenda for humanity.

The World Humanitarian Summit will hold against a backdrop of a rapidly changing humanitarian landscape, with Africa facing growing impact of disasters. In spite of the gravity of these crises, humanitarian response in Africa still relies heavily on a global system, whose character is complex and need to be reformed. This is because of the fact that the humanitarian system founded by UN Resolution 46/182, 20 years ago is overstretched and requires fundamental reforms.

In light of the failures of the existing institutional architecture and/or lack of it in some instances, effective solutions to humanitarian crises will remain elusive unless fundamental reforms in governance of humanitarian action are implemented, globally and on the African continent. In Africa such reforms are also needed to strengthen the role of States to predict and prevent humanitarian crises, and where crises occur to effectively respond and/or build resilience of communities to withstand shocks of future crises.

The key concerns that the AU will be raising in the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit include the need for redefining the international humanitarian system

The Head of the Humanitarian Affairs, Refugees and Displaced Persons Division in the Department of Political Affairs of the African Union Commission (AUC), Mr. Olabisi Dare, highlights the participation of the AU at the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit scheduled to take place on 23-24 May 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey, during an interview granted to the Directorate of Information and Communication of the AUC, ahead of the event.

According to Mr. Olabisi, the key concerns that the AU will be raising in the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit include the need for redefining the international humanitarian system which includes a reconfiguration of the entire system, “it being understood that the existing system predicated on Resolution 46/182 is not being faithfully implemented”. It is therefore in respect of this that the African Union is going to Istanbul with its own commitments to the continent and its people and has formulated a Common African Position on Humanitarian Effectiveness.

One of the key things the commitment will anchor upon is on the primacy of the state, noting that the state has the primary responsibility to its own people – to satisfy their needs and take care of their vulnerabilities.

Mr. Olabisi explained that the African Union feels the state has to play the primary role of coordinating any and all humanitarian action that may take place within its territory. The state has a responsibility to guarantee the safety of both the humanitarian workers and humanitarian infrastructure and must alleviate the needs of its people, as well as maintain humanitarian space.

“We note that the state has the capability and capacity in key areas such as the use of military assets in assisting humanitarian action. An example is the use of military forces in Liberia where the military was deployed to serve as the first line of defense to combat the spread of Ebola. We can’t overemphasize the role of the state in ensuring that humanitarian action and relief is dispensed in an effective manner and we see that this in itself will give effect to humanitarian action more readily on the continent,” Mr. Olabisi further explained.

Mr. Olabisi indicated that, the African Union will make proposals for the reconfiguration of the International Humanitarian systems during the first World Humanitarian Summit (WHS).

“We recognize that part of the solutions is the need for governments to play the primary role and a greater coordination role in order to fulfill the attributes of state in terms of its predictive nature and responsive nature and other attributes and this in itself is in of the key recommendations we are taking to the WHS as part of what Africa has committed itself to doing. We are hopeful that these recommendations will feature prominently in the outcomes,” he emphasized.

Mr. Olabisi underlined that the AU is calling for the re-engineering of Resolution 46/182 to reflect Africa’s views, and the need to elevate the role of the state primarily to deliver to its people. “When you look at the Common Africa Position (CAP) you find out that the first pillar speaks to the privacy of the state while all the other 9 pillars speak the same in one form or the other,” he noted.

Mr. Olabisi said Africa will be calling for increased domestic and innovative resource mobilization in order to deliver and allocate more resources to humanitarian action. He further noted that, Africa is of course also cognizant of the dwindling resources from traditional donors and moreso, the bleeding of resources from Africa in the form of illicit financial flows and the like.

With regards to the outcome of the WHS, Mr. Olabisi mentioned that, Africa’s commitments goes beyond the WHS “but the summit give us an opportunity to discuss a paradigm shift in terms of the way we do things in the humanitarian field in Africa and to see that we can positively add to the mitigation and alleviation the sufferings of our people when disasters and displacements occur.”

He concluded that “our resolve is to emerge with an outcome that is workable, pragmatic, and empowering. Africa has resolved nonetheless to begin to addressing its own problems using African solutions to African problems.”

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Aide-Memoire

“One Africa, One Voice, One Message at the World Humanitarian Summit”

The first-ever World Humanitarian Summit, set to take place in Istanbul on 23-24 May 2016, is a global call to action by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The Summit has three main goals: a) to reaffirm our commitment to humanity and humanitarian principles; b) initiate actions and commitments which enable countries and communities to prepare for and respond to crises and be more resilient to shocks; and c) to Share best practices which help save lives around the world, placing affected people at the centre of humanitarian action and alleviating suffering.

The Summit was called for by the Secretary General of the United Nations during the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly, in September 2013, as part of his transformative Agenda announced in 2012. This was in response to persistent failures experienced in the global humanitarian system, as a result of the rapidly changing humanitarian landscape.

To reach a consensus on what such an Agenda would entail, the World Humanitarian Summit consultations were carried out in all regions of the world, Africa inclusive. Based on the recommendations of global consultations, the Secretary General of the United Nations, has released a Report on the World Humanitarian Summit titled “One Humanity: Shared Responsibility”. In the report the Secretary General has called for an Agenda for Humanity, in five Core Responsibility areas, namely; global leadership to prevent and end conflicts; uphold norms that safeguard humanity; leave no one behind; change people’s lives-from delivering aid to ending need and invest in humanity.

Context

The World Humanitarian Summit is against a backdrop of a rapidly changing humanitarian landscape, with Africa facing growing impact of disasters.

In spite of the gravity of these crises, humanitarian response in Africa still relies heavily on a global system, whose character is complex and inefficient. This is because of the fact that the humanitarian system founded by UN Resolution 46/182, 20 years ago is overstretched and requires fundamental reforms.

In light of the failures of the existing institutional architecture and/or lack of it in some instances, effective solutions will remain elusive unless fundamental reforms in governance of humanitarian action are implemented, globally and on the African continent. In Africa such reforms are also needed to strengthen the role of States to predict and prevent humanitarian crises, and where crises occur to effectively respond and/or build resilience of communities to withstand shocks of future crises.

The Common African Position on Humanitarian Effectiveness

It is with this picture in mind that the Executive Council in its Decision Ex.CL/Dec.817 (XXV), called for a political process to define Africa’s priorities and the changes it would like to see in a future humanitarian architecture.

This is not the first time Africa is calling for such changes. Africa’s leaders as well as voices of its people and civil society, have reiterated the call for change in the way humanitarian response is carried out on the continent. The Common Position is a reminder of previous calls by Africa’s leaders to put mechanisms in place to effectively respond to crises. Indeed numerous measures were deployed in the past, but for a number of reasons, these measures were not well orchestrated. As a consequence, solutions to address humanitarian crises on the continent remained ineffective.

The CAP which has been conceived in wider lenses of Africa’s own long-term vision encapsulated in Agenda 2063, underscores need for a new discourse. The new discourse is premised on the conviction that Africa can find “own solutions to its own problems”.

The Common African Position therefore represents Africa’s appreciation and it’s understanding of the humanitarian landscape and the required intervention that is necessary for achieving sustainable solutions to humanitarian crises.

The Common African Position, emphasizes the primary responsibility of Member States in humanitarian response. It calls for strengthening of State capabilities particularly in ensuring that States play a central role in providing security to affected populations and relief workers and in guaranteeing humanitarian space.

The World Humanitarian Summit is therefore timely. Africa’s leaders as a collective will join the rest of world in shaping a new humanitarian Agenda.

Africa’s commitments at Istanbul

It was therefore on the basis of this rapidly mutating context and failures experienced in the global system, that it was felt necessary for the African Union to present its case at the World Humanitarian Summit in shaping a future humanitarian architecture.

As underscored by the Executive Council and the Assembly of the Union, time is ripe, it is Africa’s moment to orchestrate the long awaited change, to better serve people afflicted by humanitarian crises.

The Africa Union will seize the moment at Istanbul to reaffirm its future priorities and unequivocally call for an inclusive, transparent and fairer humanitarian system. Africa will renew its call for mutually beneficial partnerships that seek to put humanity at the fore by enhancing collective ownership of the proposed Agenda for humanity.

In advancing Agenda for Humanity, the African Union will commit to five Core areas:

a) Commitment to the humanitarian imperative, especially the recommitment to the humanitarian principles and principled humanitarian action,

b) Commitment to humanitarian effectiveness, particularly in ensuring timely protection and assistance of persons affected by humanitarian crises,

c) Commitment of the AU to strengthen the role of States in humanitarian action,

d) Commitments and undertakings of the AU to reform of the humanitarian architecture. In this regard, the AU will seize the opportunity to announce the establishment of the African Humanitarian Agency,

e) Commitments and measures of the AU to put in place predictable financing and alternative resource mobilisation for effective humanitarian response.

African Union and Member State Participation at Istanbul

Therefore, in light of the importance of this first ever World Humanitarian Summit to bring change, Africa’s leaders need to be part of this process of change. This is not only for historical purposes but, to unequivocally voice Africa’s concerns and aspirations. Africa’s attendance at the highest level of the Union, the Commission, Member States and Regional Economic Communities, is therefore crucial.

At Istanbul, the African Union will present its Common African Position on Humanitarian Effectiveness, as its contribution to the Summit. It is of paramount importance that Africa speaks with one voice as called for by the Executive Council and the Assembly.

The Summit will be attended at the highest level of Heads of State and Government. This provides a good opportunity for Africa’s leaders to demonstrate solidarity with affected people and join the rest of the world in taking forward the Agenda for Humanity.