Delivered by: Ed Schenkenberg van Mierop, ICVA Coordinator

Madam High Commissioner,

The NGOs welcome the opportunity to address this important meeting. This statement has been drafted by ICVA on the basis of information and field reports from NGOs working in the region, and in consultation with, and support from the two other main NGO alliances, SCHR and InterAction and their members. Our statement will focus on the humanitarian and operational aspects of the crisis, and be complemented by a statement from ECRE which will focus on protection issues and concerns.

We are extremely alarmed at the ongoing war in Kosovo and Yugoslavia and its grave humanitarian consequences, and fear that the situation is rapidly spiraling out of control. The Kosovar-Albanians are fleeing because they are subject to attacks and mass killings. Their villages are targeted. They are being evicted en masse from their homes and are being driven away as part of an effort to ethnically cleanse the province. These atrocities must be halted immediately.

Until recently the NGOs have been able to continue to work in all parts of the region. After the evacuation from Kosovo, still a small number of NGOs are operational in the FRY. In Belgrade, ICVA has been able to keep its office open and to provide a forum for local and national NGOs to meet. However, it has become extremely difficult to provide meaningful humanitarian assistance. Since the departure of International Committee of the Red Cross and Medecins sans Frontieres from Kosovo on 29 March, the security situation has not permitted a return to the province. In fact, we are extremely concerned for the safety of two of our colleagues in the region. Two Australian aid workers of CARE have been missing in the former Yugoslavia for almost six days. Their whereabouts are unknown. We urgently call on all actors involved to establish their whereabouts and to ensure their safety.

Every hour, thousands of desperate and highly traumatized refugees are pouring into the neighboring countries. Our main task at this stage is to meet their emergency needs and provide immediate relief. While emphasizing our readiness to do so, and to work together with UNHCR, we wish to draw your attention to our views on four key operational issues that we consider are of crucial importance in order to deliver effective humanitarian assistance: 1.) the need to rapidly facilitate our operations and provide access; 2.) the need for effective humanitarian coordination, 3.) the need to guarantee independent humanitarian action, and 4.) the need to guarantee fundamental refugee rights while bringing them to safer places.

Access

We recognise the overwhelming impact of the refugees on the neighboring countries. The speed and size of the exodus is reminiscent of the Kurds in Northern Iraq in 1991. We wish to emphasize that Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro who are among the poorest and most unstable countries in the region, must be assisted immediately in dealing with this influx.

We are concerned however that the local Macedonian and other authorities are acting too slowly in processing and registering the refugees because of complicated registration procedures and border formalities. While the rifles butts are virtually still in their backs, between 60,000 and 70,000 refugees are being kept waiting in the no-man's land of the border region between Kosovo and Macedonia in the most appalling conditions. They do not have access to the most essential means, including food, shelter and drinking water. This arises primarily as the result of a deliberate effort to keep control over the flow of refugees. It is essential however that these people who are being subjected to forced expulsion are permitted to cross into safety, as protection and assistance must be the first priority. We call therefore on the authorities to reduce border formalities to a minimum and enable registration procedures to take place after crossing into safety.

We are also concerned that some authorities in the region have so far not recognized the key role that international NGOs play in implementing humanitarian operations. Some of the local and national NGOs have been able to provide some assistance, but their capacity is very limited. We wish to stress that the international NGOs stand ready to become operational either through their local partners or directly.

In this respect, we would welcome some guidance from UNHCR on how and where the international NGOs can best become operational and active local NGOs supported, in particular in places where international presence and attention has so far been minimal. In view of the devastating impact of the war and refugee crisis, it is essential that the international community' assistance and resources put in, contribute to a lasting and durable solution.

In the recent past, the situation in Albania has been dangerous for both refugees and aid agencies, in particular given the commodities they bring to the country. We welcome that UNHCR and NGOs work together on establishing any security arrangements if necessary.

Humanitarian Coordination

The NGOs wish to commend UNHCR for the agency's extraordinary effort in undertaking the lead-role in the humanitarian coordination in the region. In Kosovo and other places of the former Yugoslavia, this effective lead-role enabled us, UNHCR's partners, to concentrate on our operational tasks. UNHCR and the NGOs cooperated and coordinated their activities in the spirit of a true and active partnership for the benefit of the refugees and displaced.

At present, however, we are very concerned that since the aerial bombardments started on 24 March, UNHCR has been unable to play its leading humanitarian coordination role in the refugee crises. While we agree with the view that in this situation of massive displacement new scenarios are needed, we call on UNHCR to provide leadership and resume its task of coordination.

The NGOs are concerned that they have witnessed on the ground an alarming lack of experienced UNHCR staff capable of coordinating an effective aid operation under difficult circumstances. We call on UNHCR to increase its staff, in particular at the senior level in particular in Albania and Macedonia.

We are also concerned that a number of governments may have decided to coordinate their efforts to assist in the crisis through other channels than the UN and UNHCR. We wish to emphasize that UNHCR remains the primary agency, equipped and mandated to play the coordinating role for assistance to refugees. We also call on States to provide UNHCR with all the resources and funding needed to provide for the needs of the hundreds of thousands of refugees, and to find durable solutions.

Independent Humanitarian Effort

We recognize that the speed and size of the refugee exodus in difficult accessible terrain like the Kosovo border region require the input of heavy logistics in order to airlift relief goods to the area, set up air movement and cargo handling services, and to set up refugee settlements, camps and facilities rapidly. Practically speaking a job that only the military can do. We agree that NATO undertakes some of these activities. In view of the principle of impartial and independent humanitarian relief, we wish to urge that NATO's involvement in the humanitarian effort does not go beyond these logistical support tasks.

We insist that the military involved in humanitarian operations in the region put themselves under the coordination of the UNHCR. We also call on the UN leadership and the UN Office of the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to play a role as the interface between the humanitarian and political response.

Fundamental Refugee Rights

With great caution, we accept the effort to bring refugees to countries outside the immediate region in order to provide them temporary protection, an operation that has been referred to as "the humanitarian evacuation of refugees." We wish to refer to the statement of ECRE, which points out that this operation should take place while respecting fully the refugees' rights and protection guarantees.

We wish to note that the measures taken to provide temporary shelter need to be flexible, and be adjusted in durable solutions in situations where refugees cannot return. We also note that this evacuation poses a dilemma for the humanitarian organisations involved when it comes to the processing of refugees and the selection of families and their destinations. What's more is that the transfer of refugees to countries outside the region may be even more traumatizing. We encourage the international organisations involved, IOM and UNHCR, to allow NGOs to monitor the operation and assist in the evacuation.