CARE and other agencies celebrate UN Humanitarian Day
By Sandra Bulling
On Tuesday morning, a coalition of humanitarian organisations gathered in central Copenhagen to celebrate UN Humanitarian Day. With temperatures close to zero degrees Celsius, a committed crowd endured the cold to stand up for the plight of vulnerable people who are already affected by a changing climate.
CARE organised the opening event just a few kilometres away from the Bella Centre, where one of the most important conventions of the past decades is taking place – the 15th United National Climate Change Conference. ‘We, the humanitarian community, are meeting here, on the sidelines of the climate change conference. But our humanitarian concerns are not a side issue. They are at the heart of what governments are negotiating at the climate change convention. At least they should be“, said Robert Glasser, CARE’s General Secretary, who gave the opening speech. ‘Vulnerable people, like women and girls, must be at the centre of the Copenhagen outcome. This sounds logical, but so far it has been difficult to get references to, or prioritisation of, vulnerable people in the Copenhagen outcome text.’
To clarify, as the agreement is being developed, text that negotiators haven’t finalised is put in brackets. By still having ‘vulnerable people‘ in brackets, there is uncertainty whether the agreement will prioritise the needs of poor people. According to Glasser, this is an outrageous failure.
The opening ceremony took place among the impressive photo exhibition ‘100 Places to Remember Before They Disappear’. It portrays places around the world that are already under threat from and climate change. Places that might disappear in the future if climate change is not addressed.
The event also heard views about the impacts and needs of the world’s most vulnerable people by United Nations agencies such as the World Food Programme, World Health Organization and OCHA, as well as from the International Federation of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies and the Norwegian Refugee Council.
The burden rests on women’s shoulders
In the past 20 years, the number of natural disasters has doubled – and the frequency of disasters is projected to increase. For example, in September and October 2009, South East Asia struggled to cope with an unprecedented number of simultaneous disasters: cyclones and tropical storms ravaged the Philippines, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, and floods in India and Nepal displaced millions of people.
CARE has been responding to disasters for more than 60 years, alongside with partner organisations in the humanitarian community and local populations. CARE knows that the worst-affected people in any crisis are women, and they are also the most vulnerable group after disasters. Last year’s devastating Cyclone Nargis killed 140,000 people. Twice as many women died as men. In the 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh, 90 percent of the victims were women. As the scale and number of disasters increase, women will continue to shoulder the burden – and be disproportionately represented in the mounting death tolls.
‘Women can’t run as fast, and many can’t swim. They are often carrying their children, and in some cultures, they can’t travel without a chaperone. But there is not just one side of the story: women are also part of the solution‘, Glasser said. ‘In Ethiopia, pastoralist women are implementing new ways to economise water and grow more drought-resistant crops. In Vietnam, women are the driving force behind new mangrove forests designed to protect the coast from storm surges. ‘
CARE believes that this burden on poor women for a situation they did not cause is not fair or just. ‘The world leaders here in Copenhagen are debating carbon markets and who shoulders the blame for climate change“, Glasser said. ‘People who suffer from climate change every day don’t make it into the negotiations. Whatever happens in Copenhagen, we need to remember their faces, and ensure they are included in any climate change deal – or they too will disappear. ‘
