Millions of people fled the genocide in Rwanda, including one million who crossed into Zaire in one 48-hour period.Food aid is handed out to displaced Rwandans inside the country.

, of refugees, displaced people and

throughout the world rely on the- to survive. Indeed, during the past

50 years, the UN's humanitarian agencies haveintervened sporadically to save the lives of victimsof war and starvation and its efforts have hada discernible effect on the conscience of mostgovernments. Still, the institutional 'tructure, thelevel of coordination and the effectiv~nes" of UNhumanitarian operations fall far short of how manypeople would like to see the UN perform inhumanitarian emergencies.

If anyone needs two terrifying examples toillustrate the inadequacy of the current approach todealing with the world's hwnanitarian crises, theycan be found in Bosnia and Rwanda. In the former,UN attempts to protect 'safe areas' call into questionthe very definition of 'safe'. And in the latter, thenumbers alone tell the story: hundreds of thousandsof civilians butchered in genocide and millions ofpeople displaced, including some one million whocrossed into Zaire in one 48-hour period.

But while these two examples are the onesattracting the most attention today, they are farfrom the only ones. In recent years, the internationalcommunity has been confronted with one humani-tarian crisis after another, in rapid, sometimesoverlapping, succession. Crises in Africa, Asia, theMiddle East, the Balkans and the former Sovietrepublics have strained the capacities of the UNalmost to breaking point. Never in its history hasthe demand on the UN to intervene in humanitarianand refugee emergencies been higher.

0 Tr8ft8' P"I8iP~

. A network of compassion

. Protectingie!ugeesc. Disaster relief

. Contemp<;>r4:fY challenges

African governmentsmounted impressive

rn efforts on behalf of

~~ refugees from neighbour-

~", ing countries, but thesegovernments often lackedthe infrastructure, res-ources or technical abilityto deal with the emer-gencies they faced. Con-

i sequently, the patterns of

international assistancechanged radically from

the mid-1960s onwards. In every year from 1967to 1973, post-colonial African countries receivedmore than 50 per cent of all UN refugee aid.Until 1971, UNHCR assistance in Africa wasprimarily targeted towards the development of ruralresettlement zones for refugees. From 1972 onwards,UNHCR's African expenditure increasedsignificantly to cover repatriation programmesin Africa and the needs of urban refugees, especiallyfrom southern Africa.

The Cold War era

The contemporary UNapproach to refugee prob-lems emerged fully withthe establishment ofthe Office of the UnitedNations High Com-missioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1951. Initially,UNHCR experienced difficulty defining an indepen-dent role and implementing its goals. For most ofthe 1950s, the refugee problem assumed an almostexclusively East-West dimension. The UN createdtwo new agencies: the UN Relief and Works Agencyfor Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the UNKorean Reconstruction Agency, exclusively to han-dle the humanitarian emergencies and massiverefugee populations located in strategic conflict areasin the Middle East and Korea. It was not until the1956 Hungarian Revolution that UNHCR was giventhe opportunity to demonstrate that it wasthe only UN agency capable of coordinating bothinternational refugee relief and the collection offunds for emergency material assistance.

From this expansion in the 1960s, the UNembarked on ambitious assistance programmes ina number of humanitarian emergencies around theworld. The first in Bangladesh occurred as aconsequence of the 1971 war between WestPakistan and secessionist East Pakistan and thesubsequent flight of 10 million East Bengalis to India.In response, the UN Secretary-General set up aseparate international relief apparatus under a

Decolonization and newly independent states

By the late 1950s, the UN faced further politicalproblems arising not only from the Cold War and the

Organized international concern for people displacedby war and famine dates back to the aftermath of theFirst World War, when governments were confrontedwith massive numbers of stateless people devastatedby the war and the break-up of multi-ethnic empires,mainly in Europe and the Middle East. In response,Western governments established the post of HighCommissioner for Refugees and named FridtjofNansen, who proved to be a highly innovative andsuccessful advocate for refugees. Again, after theSecond World War, when millions of displacedpeople wandered throughout Europe and Asia,the scope of assistance operations reached a largescale, principally throughthe United NationsRelief and RehabilitationAgency (UNRRA) andthe International RefugeeOrganization (IRO).

East-West nature of refugee flows but also from anti-colonial insurgency and post-independence civilstrife and warfare in Africa and Asia. In Africa, therewere at least two distinct categories of humanitariandisasters and displacements: refugees from territoriesunder French and Portuguese colonial administration(and later from Rhodesia and South Africa) andrefugees produced by internal strife, political insta-bility, ethnic conflict and repression in severalcountries that had already gained independence,such as Rwanda, Burundi, Nigeria and Sudan. By theend of the decade, there were over one millionrefugees in Africa.

special coordination organization. As head of this or-ganization, Sadruddin Aga Khan coordinated thework of all the UN agencies involved - including theWorld Health Organization (WHO), the World FoodProgramme (WFPI and the UN Children's Fund(UNICEF), among others - and mobilized UN assis-tance totalling $185 million. The success of theBangladesh operation spurred the UN to launchsimilar system-wide relief efforts the following yearin southern Sudan to repatriate and reintegrateover 200,000 refugees and to assist hundreds ofthousands of displaced people. In 1974, the UN

set up the UN Humanitarian AssistanceProgramme for Cyprus to assist 164,000 GreekCypriots from the North and 34,000 TurkishCypriots from the South.

Never-ending humanitarian crises

From the mid-1970s until the 1990s, the UN hadto cope with a growing number of complex humani-tarian emergencies and increasing numbers ofrefugees and displaced people. In the 1970s, politicaland civil unrest in Latin America resulted in

attention. From 1979 to 1982, the UN mounted athree-pronged emergency relief programme: insideCambodia, along the Thai-Cambodian border andoperating refugee camps inside Thailand.

widespread political repression and huge refugeemovements. The Latin American crises spawned aworldwide diaspora, as the exiles were resettled in44 different countries with the assistance ofUNHCR. On the other side of the world, over 1.5million refugees fled Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.In order to rescue the Indochinese refugees, the UNorganized the largest overseas resettlementprogramme since the Second World War. In 1979,famine and the mass exodus of Khmer people follow-ing the Vietnamese ouster of the Khmer Rougeregime in Phnom Penh dominated the UN's

As the Cold War intensified during the 1980s,internal wars in Afghanistan, Central America,the Horn of Africa and southern Africa becameprotracted and debilitating affairs. These conflictsperpetuated endemic violence and caused massivephysical destruction, which, in turn, generated largewaves of refugees.

Consequently, over thepast two decades there hasbeen an alarming increaseof refugees in the world.The total rose from 2.8 mil-lion in 1976, to 8.2 millionin 1980, to over 20 millionin 1995. In the same periodUNHCR's expenditure rosefrom approximately $100million to nearly $1.5 billion.

The relief network

During the past 50 yearsnot only has the UN'sglobal humanitarian reachextended dramatically butso too has the number ofagencies involved in carry-ing out relief efforts. Theyinclude UNHCR, whosemandate it is to protectand assist refugees world-wide; the WFP, whichcoordinates food aid tovictims of conflict, andUNICEF, which providesrelief aid to women andchildren who comprise themajority of civilian victimsin conflicts today.

The international com-munity also relies on a vastnetwork of non-governmentalorganizations INGOs! tohelp in humanitarian

C HOWIUd Davies/Panos

emergencies. The network ranges from largeinternational agencies to small outfits working inone particular country. Increasingly, NGOs areplaying a vital role in emergency relief because oftheir ability to reach sources of funds, rouse publicopinion and provide large numbers of technical staffwilling to work under harsh conditions. As theimplementing partners for the UN, NGOs shouldermuch of the burden of delivering food and providingshelter, water, sanitation and health care to refugees.

recognized as the world's coordinating body foremergency food aid. Although food aid for develop-ment remains a major part of its mandate, theexpenditures representing emergency food aid havesteadily increased in recent years.

Originally founded in 1946 to provide assistanceto child victims of warfare, UNICEF now devotesa steadily increasing proportion of its efforts andresources in channelling relief and supplementalaid to women and children in emergency reliefsituations in Asia and Africa. The great majority ofpeople in any humanitarian emergency are womenand children, whose special needs are not alwaysunderstood or are neglected in the provision of basicrelief. Over the years, UNICEF has built up its rapidresponse capacities and its capability to respondquickly in most emergencies has been praised inseveral quarters. Not only has it been designated alead agency in past emergencies but it was alsoinstrumental in establishing' days of tranquillity'in EI Salvador and Lebanon in order to vaccinatechildren in these conflict areas.

UNHCR now has a staff of about 4,000 in over

100 countries and an annual expenditure of approxi-mately $1.5 billion. Its work in protecting andassisting refugees is done with three durablesolutions in mind: voluntary repatriation, localintegration, or third country resettlement.

The growth in numbers and the complexity ofrefugee flows in recent years, however, has presentedenormous challenges to UNHCR to plan, manageand fund its worldwide network of protectionand relief programmes. Recently, UNHCR hasimproved its overall emergency relief preparednessand response mechanisms by bolstering its standbycapacity in emergency staffing, relief supplies, needsassessment and emergency programme implementa-tion. Five Preparedness and Response Officers andattendant regional emergency response teams havebeen established. Stockpiles of commodities for usein emergencies have been amassed and a roster ofstandby technical experts and relief workers fordeployment in relief situations has been established.

Not all humanitarian crises, however, are coveredby UNHCR, UNICEF or other UN agencies. Becausea wide variety of people, including refugees,internally displaced people and victims of war,drought and famine, are likely to be affected in suchsituations, a number of agencies will necessarily beinvolved in response. In major emergencies, wherethere are sometimes hundreds of aid agenciesworking, effective coordination is essential to ensurethat responsibilities and roles are clearly assignedand gaps in the relief response are covered.Despite improvements in its emergency

preparedness, UNHCR is chronically underfundedand understaffed. Although the number of refugeesit serves has doubled in the last decade, fundinglevels for basic care and maintenance have remainedat a virtual standstill.

In responding to humanitarian emergencies,UNHCR collaborates closely with other UNagencies -primarily the WFP and UNICEF - as well

as a number of NGOs. In most recent emergencyoperations, the WFP has been a principal source offood aid. Originally conceived in 1961, it is today

Complex emergenciesPresent-day humanitarian crises are complex emer-gencies, combining political instability, ethnictensions, armed conflict, economic collapse and thedisintegration of civil society. They involve not onlyrefugees but also internally displaced people, as wellas victims of war, famine and drought. With modempowerful weaponry accessible even to the verypoorest country, civil war can quickly devastate itsiri£rastructure while population density means thata single conflict can cause millions of people tosuddenly flee. In conflict situations, refugee move-ments frequently spill over borders and aggravateexisting problems, such as environmental damage orsevere food shortages. Humanitarian emergenciesare seldom confined to single countries but oftenaffect entire regions, such as central or west Africa orthe Balkans. In recent years, few of these crises havebeen fully resolved. Consequently, resources fromone crisis often have not been made available foruse in the next.

Inside the borders

A critical weakness of the international humani-tarian system is that at present there is no specialinternational organization to protect and assist theworld's 25 million internally displaced people.There is an inadequate body of international law toregulate their treatment by governments. Whilethere is a clear mandate for the protection and provi-sion of humanitarian assistance to refugees,internally displaced people are unprotected preciselybecause they do not become refugees but remainwithin the boundaries of their own countries.

a growing number of analysts and some governmentsand institutions are beginning to argue that there is aright to international intervention for humanitarianpurposes, the international community is frequently

Internal wars not only displace huge numbersof people but also prevent international aid fromreaching people living in conflict areas. Although

While explosions of political and ethnic violence,persecution and massacres have produced humani-tarian crises and large-scale movements of refugeesthroughout history, there are many new and uniquefeatures to the contemporary humanitarian emergen-cies. The scale, frequency and suddenness ofcontemporary humanitarian emergencies haveexerted enormous pressures on international

response capacities.

unable to assist or intervene and the abilityof governments or international organizations toinfluence the behaviour of warring factions in suchsituations is limited. Former Yugoslavia is one suchcase. While the UN peacekeeping operation therehas saved lives and salved the consciences of govern-ments, it has also been accused of fostering ethniccleansing by stimulating the forcible movementof unwanted populations. One of the principallessons of the conflict in Bosnia is that thehumanitarian mandate of UNHCR cannot be viewedas a satisfactory substitute for wider-rangingpolitical solutions.

conflict? Does the UN Human Rights Centre havethe capacity to engage in human rights monitoringin countries of origin? How much and what kindsof assistance are required for returnees to re-establishthemselves successfully? Should the internationaleconomic development agencies, such as the UNDevelopment Programme (UNDP), provide refugee-targeted development assistance from the earlystages of a repatriation? Should assistance beextended not only to returning refugees but also toneedy local populations? Although answers to thesequestions have yet to be found, they are of criticalimportance if the UN is to respond effectively inthe future.

Going beyond traditional humanitarian emer-gency assistance to facilitating reintegration ofreturnees into countries of origin reqUires the devel-opment of new or different competencies on thepart of international agencies. A focus on reintegra-tion will involve rethinking the roles and mandatesof international organizations and NGOs, the shift-ing of their operational priorities from receivingcountries to countries of return and closer coopera-tion between development, human rights andrefugee agencies than has hitherto been the case.

Repatriation and reintegration

UNHCR's more immediate short-term tasksinclude dealing with the consequences of refugeeexoduses and determining when and how repatri-ation and reintegration is most appropriate. Even asnew refugee crises emerge, there remain numerous

long-standing refugee populations in the Third World-some dating back 10 years, some W or more years.

Although the international community is stilldealing with immediate problems of handlingsudden mass outflows of refugees and problems ofreception in countries of asylum, there is muchgreater attention today on repatriation. Almost fivemillion refugees have returned home since thebeginning of the 19908. If large numbers of refugeescontinue to repatriate at this rate, the focus ofconcern must inevitably shift from repatriation tomore long-standing reintegration and development.It is becoming increasingly evident that in countriessuch as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Ethiopia,Mozambique and Rwanda one of the precondjtjonsfor successful returns is development aid andreintegration assistance aimed at alleviating poverty.Without careful reintegration and reconciliation,returning refugees will compete for scarce develop-mental resources which, in turn, may well result infierce political and economic competition with localpopulations that did not flee.

Repatriation and reconstruction raise new anddifficult questions for UN agencies. For how longshould UNHCR seek to provide protection to return-ing refugees, particularly in situations of continuing

.

Early warning systemsEarly information on im-pending crises is criticalnot only for possible pre-ventive action but alsofor effective and timelyhumanitarian responsesand for ensuring adequate

preparedness. Establishingan effective monitoringbody within the UN thatwould alert the Secretary-General, the UN Emer-gency Relief Coordinatorand the Security Councilto potential conflicts

Early warning programmes must be connectedto decision-making and response strategies both ingovernments and in relief, development and humanrights organizations. In many recent humanitariancrises, information about impending conflicts andmass migrations was well known in advance butthere was no willingness to act on this information.In Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia and fonDer Yugoslavia,

OLl'b4 Taylm/PSDDS

The humanitarian emer- and humanitarian emergencies could provide angencies of the post-Cold early warning mechanism.War era have highlightedthe fact that combating For example, the capability and mandate of thethe causes of internal UN Centre for Human Rights needs to be strength-conflicts and forced ened to enable it to monitor and collect accurate andmigration cannot proceed up-to-date human rights information; to identifysolely within the con- situations that have the potential to produce massfines of international refugee flows and to bring these to the attention ofhumanitarian organizations. the international community. The UN CommissionThere is a need for a better on Human Rights could assign its Sub-Commissioninterface between the relief on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection ofagencies and political and Minorities to monitor the treatment of ethnic andsecurity operations on the religious minorities and to alert the Secretary-one hand and emergency General when action is needed. Similarly, the earlyrelief, development and warning capabilities, as well as inter-agency informa-human rights mechanisms tion swapping, in both UNHCR and UNDP shouldon the other. A multi- be bolstered.dimensional strategy forhumanitarian crises must Among the potentially most important newinvolve practically the instruments added to the UN's capacities is theentire UN system, as well organization's ability to send UN fact.findingas regional organizations missions to defuse disputes and prevent major crisesand NGOs, and requires from expanding. Fact-finding missions are likely toenhancing these organiza- play an important role in the early stages of conflicttions' capacities to defuse, development and may prevent the misunder-to deter and to mediate standings that escalate conflict and result in moreincipient crises before rigid positions. Observers in the field can also servethey need more serious as a deterrent for those considering actions that causeand costly trans-sovereign forcible displacement. NGOs, such as Amnestyintervention. International or the Helsinki Watch groups, may in

some instances be more successful than UN moni-tors in collecting information and bringing abuses ofhuman and minority rights to the attention of theinternational community. However, it is not enoughfor monitors to be in place and for information aboutpotential human rights abuses and refugee move-ments to be widely available - there must also be the

political will to act.

Coordinator (UNDROI which was to be thefocal point within the UN system for mobilizingand coordinating relief assistance. In practice,UNDRO failed to provide the leadership requiredby its mandate. In order to fill this gap, the UNGeneral Assembly, in December 1991, created theOffice of Emergency Relief Coordinator, chargedwith providing a focal point for government,intergovernmental and NGO communicationduring UN emergency relief operations. In early1992, Jan Eliasson, the Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, became the first Under-Secretary-Generalin the newly formed UN Department ofHumanitarian Affairs (DHA) and was subsequently

replaced by Peter Hansenin 1994.

for example, international agencies and analysts hadaccurately predicted what would happen well beforethe disasters unfolded, but there existed no mecha-nisms and institutions for averting conflicts or fordealing effectively and rapidly with these crises at atime when they were still manageable. In December1993, several months in advance of the massivebloodletting in Rwanda in 1994, the UN SpecialRapporteur on Extra-Judicial, Summary andArbitrary Executions reported to the UNCommission on Human Rights: 'Lessons should bedrawn from the past and the cycle of violence whichhas drenched both Burundi and Rwanda in bloodmust be broken. To this end the impunity ofthe perpetrators of themassacres must be defi-nitely brought to an endand preventive measuresto avoid the recurrence ofsuch tragedies must bedesigned.' The interna-tional community ignoredthis early warning andmass murder occurredon a gigantic scale. Evenafter genocide in Rwandabecame widely known,the Western governmentsfailed to support calls fora UN force for Rwandawhile there was still timeto curb the massacres.

The creation of DHAwas an essential step inclarifying and assigningresponsibilities to UNagencies in coDaplexeDaergencies. This isparticularly apparent insituations where Daan-dates overlap or whereno entity has a clearDaandate to act; inDaaking quick decisionson the best coordinating

I DaechaniSDaS to respond tohuDaanitarian eDaergen-

,.. cies at the field level andin negotiating access for

these agencies without waiting for a fonnal govem-Daent request. Donor states influential in thecreation of DHA envision the office gatheringdata, Daobilizing resources, orchestrating fieldactivities, negotiating a fraInework of action withpolitical authorities and providing overall leadershipto huDaanitarian aid efforts.

C':

Unless trigger mecha-nisms for prompt action are established andexisting tools of diplomacy, human rights andconflict-resolution are reinforced, any measures thatmight be taken to prepare for future emergencies arelikely to be of limited use. The value of suchmeasures depends largely on the willingness of statesand international organizations to take the necessaryconcerted preventive action.

Unfortunately, the vision has so far not beenThe UN's vision of coordination realized. Lack of adequate staff in the field, a rapidMaking the system work better requires a more succession of humanitarian crises in the post-Coldeffective division of labour among the actors War period and incompletely established and largelyinvolved in responding to the humanitarian, political ~ untested mechanisms for inter-agency coordinationand security dimensions of internal conflicts. Over have caught the department unprepared, leaving it20 years ago, in 1971, the UN General Assembly unable to assume its intended leadership role in mostcreated the Office of the UN Disaster Relief recent emer~encies. Perhaps the greatest difficulty

confronting DHA is that while every agencyfavours coordination in principle, few wish to becoordinated in practice. If DHA's presence is to leadto improvements in the response capacity of theUN, the sigIlificance of its coordinating role mustbe recognized by UNHCR and other agencies. TheDHA must also be fully equipped both politicallyand financially to undertake effectively its assignedtasks.

Coordinating relief and development

Closer coordination between UNDP, UNHCR,UNICEF and other UN agencies is the key to dealingwith refugees, returnees and the internally displaced.

Cooperation between these agencies already takesplace in joint UNHCR-UNDP projects aimed atassisting a variety of displaced groups in CentralAmerica, Mozambique and Cambodia. In recentyears, in the Horn of Africa, UNHCR and UNDPhave established joint management structures tocreate preventive zones and cross-mandateprogrammes to stabilize and prevent displacement.

Although there have been greater efforts atUNDP-UNHCR coordination in field operations, farmore effective inter-agency planning, consultationand implementation are required. Institutional con-straints inhibit closer cooperation between the twoUN agencies. UNHCR is not a development agency.Although UNHCR can be a catalyst in initiating

development-oriented assistance, UNDP is moresuited to the task. Unfortunately, in most countries,a 'development gap' exists between short-termhumanitarian relief assistance and long-termdevelopment. UNHCR-UNDP joint projectsattempted to £ill this gap in Central America, theHorn of Mrica and Indochina where there are largereturnee and displaced populations, but becausethese projects were small in size and limited innature they have only partially filled the gapbetween immediate assistance and longer-termdevelopment. The task of the overall rehabilitationof these communities must be carried out by UNDP,or by other UN agencies, which canmore appropri-ately deal with reconstruction and development. Thisrequires a full transfer of responsibility from UNHCRto UNDP after the immediate emergency relief phaseis over - again, an idea that UNDP consistendy resists

because it views itself as having a development, andnot even a partially emergency, focus.

Finding the funds

Greater development assistance alone is not enoughto create safe conditions for refugees; inter-national cooperation must also ensure democrat-ization and respect for human rights. The existingUN human rights machinery needs to be strength-ened and applied more effectively to deal withrefugees, returnees and the internally displaced -for it is integral to the success of UN

peacemaking.

0 Teremy HtIltley/PanosWhen disoster strikes, international effons are mobilized across0 brood front with special assistance to children ot risk.

Representative on the Internally Displaced, FrancisDeng, to monitor mass displacements of people,collect information on violations of their humanrights and help sustain a positive dialogue towardachieving solutions with governments of the countryof origin. But the Special Representative must begiven proper political support and funding to carryout his tasks effectively. A General Assemblyresolution confirming the role and mandate of theSpecial Representative is now required to institu-tionalize this office further. A significant first steptowards trying to deal with the problem wouldbe to designate a permanent representative forthe internally displaced. This representative couldundertake fact-finding missions, intercede withgovernments, embark on activities which strengtheninstitutions that sustain democracy and civil society,publish reports and bring violations to the attentionof human rights bodies and the Security Council.

Commission on Human Rights held a special sessionon R~anda in June 1994 and appointed a SpecialRapporteur to investigate the massacres there.

At the same time, the UN Centre for HumanRights, through its Advisory Services, has worked ona number of UN peacekeeping or peace-enforcementmissions, providing significant tcchnical assistanceand cooperation to the UN human rights presencein the field, for example in £1 Salvador, Somaliaand Cambodia. These actions underscore both thepotentially key role of the UN human rightsmachinery and the growing involvement of theSecurity Council in humanitarian matters, and therecognition that the promotion and protection ofthe human rights of refugees, returnees and theinternally displaced are an integral part of UN

peacemaking.

If the UN hopes to respond more effectively tohumanitarian crises, it must strengthen its capacityto monitor developments in human rights issues.The creation of the post of UN High Commissionerfor Human Rights in late 1993 is an important initialstep in this direction. However, a greater protectionrole in the field should be granted to UN humanrights personnel. At present, the UN Centre forHuman Rights has country expertise but no fieldpresence. Despite widespread recognition of the needfor more human rights monitors in civil warsituations, the UN still has enormous political andfinancial difficulties placing adequate numbers ofobservers in such obvious places as Burundi andRwanda. At a minimum, the Centre can strengthenits coverage in the field by the continued expansionof its advisory services and technical coopcration.In addition, by offering services such as trainingjudges, strengthening electoral commissions, estab-lishing ombudsmen, training prison staff andadvising governments on constitutions and legisla-tion regarding national minorities and human rights,the Centre is likely to be more successful in itsactivities and less threatening to governments thanin more straightforward, fieldwork-oriented human

rights monitoring.

Recently, there have been attempts to createcloser linkages between UNHCR and the humanrights organs and activities of the UN system.In 1992, for example, the UN Centre for HumanRights and UNHCR drafted a memorandum of

There is much discussion about the creation ofspecial human rights machinery for the internallydisplaced. At its 1993 session, the UN Commissionon Human Rights reappointed the Special

understanding so that human rights informationcollected by UNHCR could be forwarded to theCentre for Human Rights. At the end of 1992,UNHCR and the Centre established a joint workinggroup to study mechanisms and approaches forenhanced and continuous collaboration. Suchconsultation should be strengthened to ensure thatdisplacements emanating from human rightsviolations are brought to the attention of the UNCommission on Human Rights and that the workof the Centre's Advisory Services section adequatelyaddresses human rights issues associated withrefugee movements and internal displacements.

UN system. While greater efforts at coordination arecrucial, the challenge for the international commu-nity in the next decade will be to respond not only tothe immediate humanitarian problems of growingnumbers of human rights victims and displacedpeople but also to confront the conditions which leadto these crises. These are political tasks requiring amore active role from national policy-makers and agreater willingness to utilize fully the UN mecha-nisms on security, peacekeeping, peacemaking andhuman rights in anticipating as well as reacting ef-fectively to humanitarian disasters around the world.Humanitarian aid must not be used as an excuse tohide the political decisions needed to avoid futurehumanitarian tragedies. Future stability and securitydepend on new approaches which will bring togetherconflict-resolution capacities, humanitarian reliefagencies and human rights networks and observers.

The need for preventive political action

In the post-Cold War era, there is an urgent need tore-examine UN humanitarian action and to under-stand better the possibilities and liInitations of the

UN peacekeeping focces are incceasingly needed to protect humanitorian convoys in conflict zones.An Italian UN soldier plays with children orphaned in war. 0 Paul SmitbJP-