09/21/2006

Jan Egeland
Under Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs
Office of Coordination of humanitarian Affairs
New york, NY USA

September 15, 2006

Dear Mr. Egeland,

In July and August of 2006, Refugees International sent a team to Syria and Lebanon to assess the humanitarian response to the displacement crisis. Sarah Martin and Kristele Younes were in the region from July 28th to August 27th and were able to meet with a variety of actors in national and local governments, political parties, UN organizations and national and international NGOs, as well as displaced persons themselves.

We would like to acknowledge the hard work that OCHA and other UN agencies were able to accomplish under extremely difficult and fluid circumstances. We understand in particular the difficulties that working in an active conflict involve, as well as the safety risk posed to UN staff. We would like to share some our findings and observations about the response.

Security vs. Mobility: UN personnel appeared to be unable to leave the Mövenpick Hotel and work with local organizations during and immediately after the conflict. We understand that this was largely caused by very strict security rules sent to the field by UN headquarters. The strict interpretation of security hampered the UN from being able to play an effective role during the emergency response.

Even during the bombings there were many locations in Beirut and its suburbs (where many of the displaced fled) and other parts of Lebanon that were easily accessible by road and relatively safe. However, most UN staff were unable to travel even within the city. The complete lock-down kept most UN staff from being able to work in the field and negatively impacted the Lebanese perception of why the international community was there. Similarly, requiring UN staff to move with a UNIFIL tank south of the Litani River after the ceasefire also greatly impeded their ability to access vulnerable populations and develop relationships. The UN security decisions made at headquarters level appear to have little regard for operational implications and no consideration for the opinion of UN agencies working in Lebanon.

Role of the international community and protection: RI believes that the international community should ensure that the core principles of humanitarian assistance are respected by all. The UN can and must help ensure that aid is not politicized and that vulnerable groups do not fall through the cracks. Unlike many other emergencies, Lebanese civil society, local governments and private citizens were the primary responders to this displacement crisis. Since UN agencies were hampered by their security policies, they were unable to actively participate in assessments of the situation, for the most part.

The UN response overall was too passive. Rather than proactively reaching out to local actors, particularly in regards to protection and the work of the relevant Cluster, the UN adopted a ‘they can come to us’ approach, noting that ‘these meetings are open to all.’ RI attended five of six meetings of the protection cluster in Beirut while in Lebanon and noted with surprise and dismay that local civil society and government representatives were usually absent. As the international community debated how to develop protection assessment tools, local actors were actually implementing the response under very challenging conditions. While the response was very well organized, the local actors lacked the expertise on incorporating protection. This should have been the role of the international community.

It should go without saying that it is essential to reach out actively to local actors and coordinate international efforts with theirs. Not only does this avoid duplication, it also ensures that protection concerns are incorporated by all in their activities.

Local capacity in Lebanon: The duplication of effort and the UN’s inability to use local resources during the conflict were equally disconcerting. While the government of Lebanon is young and lacks capacity in many areas, the country of Lebanon has many capable actors. RI was surprised to see OCHA developing parallel activities that were not in coordination with the government of Lebanon. For example, while OCHA was encouraging agencies to register at the HIC, the government of Lebanon, through the office of the Ministry of Social Affairs, was developing a ‘virtual portal’ to register all of the international NGOs in the country. OCHA was convening general coordination meetings and so was the Ministry of Social Affairs, and neither seemed to be aware of the others activities. When alerted about the duplicate meeting, OCHA did not send a representative to it.

In a country like Lebanon, where 87% of the population are literate and well-educated and that has many capable individuals and institutions, establishing the proper role of the international community in coordinating the relief and response activities was problematic. RI received complaints from the government of Lebanon that rather than assessing what resources were available within the country, the United Nations first impulse was to bring in its own resources from outside the country.

In other words, agencies fell quickly into the default “standard disaster response” mode, with its heavy reliance on expatriate staff and resources, rather than building from the real capacities and needs of Lebanon and its people. The humanitarian community should be sophisticated enough by now not to fall so easily into this trap.

Refugees International firmly believes that despite the difficulties encountered, Lebanon can only benefit from a strong UN presence that focuses on enhancing coordination between all actors and addressing protection needs of the displaced and other vulnerable groups. In this spirit, we would like to recognize the work of the Humanitarian Coordinator and the head of UNHCR in Lebanon, and express our gratitude for their statements concerning the protection of civilians. We believe their denunciation of the violations of international humanitarian law contributed to the cease-fire and reminded the international community of the limits it has imposed to all its members in the conduct of warfare.

Sincerely Yours,

Kenneth H. Bacon
President