Minister Bibeau Meets with Key Humanitarian Partners
News Release
December 3, 2015 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, today launched a dialogue between the Government of Canada and humanitarian assistance organizations to improve humanitarian responses.
The Minister began by welcoming civil society organizations to an initial consultation on humanitarian assistance. The main purpose of this meeting was to hear the views of the organizations in attendance on current and future humanitarian issues and how Canadian civil society responds to them. The meeting also helped identify key concerns and problems to be addressed through cooperation and consultation.
Following the meeting, Minister Bibeau met with Stephen O’Brien, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator of the United Nations, with whom she discussed the growing need for humanitarian assistance, Canada’s support to annual global appeals for humanitarian assistance, and Canadian participation at the World Humanitarian Summit in May 2016.
The Government of Canada is looking to refocus Canadian development assistance on helping the poorest and most vulnerable, and on supporting fragile states. Global Affairs Canada and humanitarian organizations are major stakeholders with frontline staff who must continue working closely on addressing current and future humanitarian assistance challenges.
Quotes
“Humanitarian assistance has been a longstanding priority of Canada. Lately I have been concerned by the unprecedented human suffering brought about by conflict, natural disasters and the destabilizing impacts of climate change. In these times of crisis, consulting our key humanitarian partners is of great importance to the work they do in order to more effectively respond to humanitarian needs.”
- The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie
Quick facts
- Over the coming months, consultations will be held with Canadian stakeholders and international aid organizations to eventually develop a framework to guide Canada’s assistance decisions, encourage people’s empowerment and support sustainable, broad-based growth in developing countries.
- These consultations will inform Canada’s participation at the first World Humanitarian Summit taking place in May 2016 in Turkey. The Summit will be an important opportunity to reaffirm principled humanitarian action, promote respect for international humanitarian law, and ensure that the needs of affected people are at the forefront of the collective responses of the Government of Canada and civil society organizations.
- Canada has a long history of working with civil society, and a significant portion of Canada’s aid program is invested in activities involving civil society organizations.
- The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is an important humanitarian partner for Canada. OCHA’s mission is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in order to alleviate human suffering in disasters and emergencies.
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