Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much indeed for the opportunity to have this discussion with you. I'm delighted to be in Ottawa. We live in a world with multiple challenges and various things under strain. My responsibility, as the under-secretary-general at

Foreign Affairs committee  Almost all of the roughly $15 billion that we raised for UN-coordinated response plans last year came from member states of the UN. The $15 billion I've just described is the bulk of world humanitarian assistance. Beyond the UN-coordinated programs, there are the programs of the

Foreign Affairs committee  Let me say two things on that. First, private sector organizations play a very big role in the delivery of assistance—in logistics, in supply chain, and in procurement. Lots of what reaches people in the middle of these crises comes through private sector routes. Second, let me

Foreign Affairs committee  I entirely agree with all that, and tomorrow I will be giving a 20- to 25-minute answer to your question in this talk I'm giving. Now I'll give you the 60-second version. I think there are four areas where we need to strengthen how humanitarian agencies deal with these issues.

Foreign Affairs committee  The single biggest cause of humanitarian suffering around the world is conflict. The biggest reason it's hard to help people is the way the men with the guns and the bombs behave in conflict. As you say, conflicts are lasting longer than they used to. It's not just about state

Foreign Affairs committee  I'll try to be a bit brief, Mr. Chairman. I understand the point. First, as I said at the beginning, our message is that we ask all of the parties to separate the humanitarian needs of the people from their political dispute. We try to reassure everybody that the aid agencies op

Foreign Affairs committee  We would absolutely be able to do more if we had more resources. That's absolutely what we feel. We do have substantial capacity on the ground. From my own office, for example, I've been able to bring more people in to assess the needs, to understand what the priorities are, an

Foreign Affairs committee  We are, and that's the truth of it. It's because of what we see on the ground. I can give you two examples. In 2017, we were trying to stave off what could potentially have been a huge famine in Somalia. The proximate cause of that, or the biggest proximate cause, was the drough

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. Well, obviously, it's part of the reality within which we work. It's not, by the way, completely new. If you look over the history of the United Nations, you see that there are quite often periods when these kinds of tensions have been evident, and when the Security Council

Foreign Affairs committee  Part of what you're asking me gets me somewhat out of my lane, actually, given my set of responsibilities. If you don't mind, I'll reply in respect of the discharge of my responsibilities. As I said earlier, the single biggest problem that causes humanitarian suffering is confli

Foreign Affairs committee  Let me say, to start with, that I think there's scope for lots of donors to provide more assistance. I think there is scope, actually, for Canada, like others, to do a bit more than is being done at the moment. As some of you will be aware, there's a UN commitment that was establ

Foreign Affairs committee  I was in Haiti in July, visiting the work of the humanitarian agencies. Some months ago, after the latest typhoon hit Haiti, I provided money from the central emergency response fund—which is a fund of $550 million a year that I manage, including with contributions from Canada—to

Foreign Affairs committee  The earlier example I was giving was in respect to Venezuela, and to repeat, I haven't seen a case of alleged diversion in respect to Venezuela. Of course, it's very common to run into problems with terrorist groups trying to steal assistance or governments trying to misdirect it

Foreign Affairs committee  On your first question, I guess the heyday of the responsibility to protect concept and doctrine was the 1990s, and things have definitely eroded since then. The only way we'll see that turn around is if the member states in the United Nations collectively decide they want to cha

Foreign Affairs committee  Good afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to talk to you all today. A lot of what I want to do is amplify what Ambassador Rae has just said so compellingly. I hope it's not inappropriate for me to congratulate you on being so well represented