UN, OIC and THF Meeting in Cairo - 17 December
UN, OIC and THF Meeting in Cairo - 17 December
The ongoing turmoil in Syria and Yemen has triggered an alarming humanitarian situation with large numbers of displaced people. The lack of information from both countries is disturbing, and in Yemen the humanitarian situation is made worse by rising food prices and malnutrition.
To improve coordination of humanitarian efforts, the United Nations, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and The Humanitarian Forum held a high-level meeting in Cairo on 17th December. This brought together a number of leading international, regional and local humanitarian organizations. It was attended by over 100 people from 65 multilateral, western, Islamic and local humanitarian organisations; there were 13 multilateral organisations, 7 western INGOs, 19 Islamic INGOs, 9 Syrian organisations and 9 Yemeni NGOs.
The meeting strengthened the ability of the humanitarian community to respond to humanitarian crisis in the region. It improved coordination and provides a way to share information, while explaining the UN and OIC coordination systems. The meeting brought a wide range of humanitarian actors together, creating vital connections and allowed Syrian Diaspora organisations in Austria, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE and UK to network.
The main issues for both countries are:
- The situations on the ground are fluid and complex.
- Humanitarian organisations must work together. Participants committed to do this.
- Information is very limited. A number of mechanisms to share information were discussed and agreed.
- Humanitarian funding needs to be improved.
- The capacity of local NGOs and communities needs to be developed.
- Further regional events are needed to increase the collaboration between active, operational organisations from all countries.
Read more about our work in Yemen and the humanitarian situation there.
