Meeting with UN OCHA 6 June
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LIBYA: ROUND TABLE MEETING ON THE THEME OF PARTNERSHIP
(Cairo, 6 June 2011): The Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya, Panos Moumtzis, the NGO Humanitarian Forum and United Nations Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today hosted a Round Table Meeting in Cairo bringing together Arab, Islamic and western organizations involved in providing relief in Libya.
The Round Table meeting, under the banner of "Sharaka" (partnership), brought together more than 35 Arab and Islamic relief organizations, the League of Arab States and UN agencies in order to better coordinate the provision of aid, create humanitarian partnerships in specific areas and come up with result oriented action plans.
"We hope that there will be an end to the crisis in Libya as soon as possible," said the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) for Libya during the plenary session. "The longer the crisis continues, the more dire the needs become and the more challenging the humanitarian response will be". The HC added that "today our aim is to have effective humanitarian partnerships in the field".
On the total number of Libyans who have been displaced as a result of the crisis, the HC explained that the figure has reached 1,169,207 internally and outside Libya. This amounts to approximately 14 per cent of the population.
The HC said that "the crisis in Libya is not about figures, the crisis is about protection of civilians and the rising humanitarian needs that are affecting the daily lives of civilians throughout Libya''. Mr. Moumtzis stressed that humanitarian principles of impartiality, independence and neutrality guide the work of the United Nations in Libya.
The HC also highlighted the need for better information sharing and coordination among humanitarian partners in order to reach currently inaccessible areas and determine the still unmet humanitarian needs.
Dr. Hany El Banna, the Head of the NGO Humanitarian Forum, emphasized the need to create modalities to facilitate better coordination between the various relief organizations working inside Libya. One such coordinating mechanism could be the establishment of what he termed "a high committee for humanitarian coordination".
Ambassador Laila Nejm, representing the League of Arab States, emphasized the need for organizations to work together as one team in order to avoid any duplication in responding to the humanitarian situation.
A general discussion with the key players, including members of the League of Arab States, was followed by presentations from four technical thematic working groups on Food, Health, Borders, and Early Recovery, respectively. The working groups presented their plans of action for each thematic area that should inform the ongoing work of humanitarian partners.
