Madam High Commissioner,

Mr. Chairman,

Colleagues and friends,

The NGOs are deeply alarmed by the acute and grave crises presently taking place in the North Caucasus and East Timor. While we have come to meet in Geneva, indiscriminate attacks on civilians, killings, rape, and other serious human rights violations lead to large-scale forced displacement and wide-spread suffering. In East Timor, it has become known that one NGO that has had a long standing presence and experience in the country has lost one of its staff as he was shot dead in Dili. In the Northern part of the Caucasus the international community and the NGOs hardly have any presence. ICVA, therefore, calls on this meeting to urgently discuss these situations and present recommendations to be addressed by the Executive Committee next week .

Mr. Chairman,

Like each year, a large number of NGOs have come to Geneva to meet with UNHCR and among themselves, prior to the annual meeting of the UNHCR Executive Committee. We welcome this important opportunity as it allows us to exchange views and information, to build and strengthen relations and to discuss effective humanitarian response. We appreciate the time and effort taken by senior UNHCR staff to engage in a dialogue and to take a critical look at UNHCR’s policies and activities in order to discuss and agree upon measures that improve our actions and collaboration in working with refugees and displaced persons.

One opportunity for improving our collaboration has been offered by the review of the PARinAC process and the recommended plan of action. The activities that aim to revitalise this process deserve significant attention and discussion at this meeting. One of the constraints for furthering PARinAC has been the lack of resources. The recommendation to draft an annual report on PARinAC and to present this report not only to this forum but also to the Standing Committee, may increase the attention given to the process by governments and donors. It should be stressed here that when governments and donors call for increased cooperation and coordination, they need to make resources available that allow a process such as PARinAC to progress.

We also welcome the link with the meeting of the UNHCR Executive Committee in this year’s agenda. The NGOs have a vested interest in this meeting as the Executive Committee’s decisions and policy discussions impact on the protection and assistance to refugees and persons of concern to UNHCR. We look forward to hearing from UNHCR on the proceedings of this year’s drafting process of the conclusions. However, we are concerned that the drafting process will again not result in conclusions that strengthen and enhance existing international standards.

We also welcome the increased opportunities for discussing critical protection issues with UNHCR within the context of the protection reach-out to NGOs. The proposals made by the NGOs, including a training programme and joint advocacy efforts that increase the involvement of the NGOs in standard-setting processes, are necessary and welcome initiatives. We also welcome the fact that the protection debate will be extended to four regions with regional and national NGOs in the near future.

Concerning the involvement of NGOs in standard-setting processes for refugees and displaced persons, it should be stressed that NGO participation and advocacy in other areas, for example children and labour, is far more advanced. A number of NGOs have repeatedly stressed that new ways must be found for NGOs to meaningfully contribute their expertise and experience in the decision-making processes that impact on the protection of refugees and other persons of concern to UNHCR. In addition, a number of us have been very active in presenting the views of the NGOs to the Standing Committee. It is rather unfortunate that the NGOs hardly have the possibility to continue to do this at the last session of the Committee of this year as the Committee is meeting as we speak.

(Mr. Chairman,)

In the first half of this year, our ability to protect and assist the people fleeing from these serious human rights abuses has been seriously tested in the Kosovo crisis. Whereas the Kosovo crisis may have triggered a unique response from the international community, it has led to a number of side effects that require our urgent attention. One such side effect has been the bilateral approach taken by many States that has hampered the lead-agency and coordination role of UNHCR.

The bilateral approach prevailed for example in the deployment of national military contingents involved in the aid effort. Regarding this involvement, many in the NGO community feel that UNHCR should have been more outspoken on the issue. While the NGOs have reiterated their support for the logistical contribution of NATO forces and national military contingents to the humanitarian effort, many of us have expressed deep concern that the military's participation has compromised the independence and impartiality of humanitarian action.

Coordination has not been the strongest element in the response to the Kosovo crisis. It is worth noting that while eventually coordination mechanisms were put in place, they concerned only technical sectors and that a coordination meeting on protection was still absent. We also understand that UNHCR has engaged in an evaluation of its operations and we would like to know whether the NGOs have been part of this evaluation, a topic to be discussed further in the meeting that deals with the region on Thursday afternoon.

One other recommendation to this meeting is to look at the status and quality of the humanitarian response in Kosovo. We have all heard of the large number of organisations presently active in Kosovo. These numbers are reminiscent of the aid effort in Rwanda, an operation that was subject to international criticism. In the regard, ICVA suggests that two issues be raised in tomorrow's regional meeting: the risk of an unbalanced response compared to the existing needs in other parts of the region, and the narrow focus on technical assistance and logistics, while ignoring the serious protection issues in Kosovo proper.

Mr. Chairman,

In the coming days, we must achieve some practical and feasible results in our discussions. In previous sessions, some have expressed the view that the way this meeting is set up, has not been conducive to real debate and interaction. I would like to mention here that efforts have been made to improve on this point. While noting that is impossible to satisfy all existing wishes and expectations, it should be stressed that this meeting is also owned by the participants, the NGOs. ICVA has convened a series of informal luncheon meetings that allow for greater debate and discussion on specific issues than is possible during these pre-Excom sessions. Perhaps such meetings should be the basis of future pre-Excom meetings. For those who would like to present suggestions on how this forum could be made even more influential and interesting, I would like to encourage you to contact ICVA so as to make additional proposals. I wish you all a productive debate in the coming days.