Humanitarian and Disaster Relief

Eighty years after the founding of the United Nations, its role in humanitarian relief remains one of the clearest expressions of this institution at its best.

It reminds us every day why this United Nations still matters.

It stands as the best reminder in these shaky times that working together is what the world needs.

And it also shows every day, how much darker the world would be without our United Nations, and its daily humanitarian work.

Without the coordination provided by the World Food Programme, millions would face literally starvation.

Without agencies such as UNICEF, UNHCR, and UNWRA children living through conflict, and as refugees, would have no access to schooling or basic services and protection. 

Without the UNDRR countries would be less prepared for climate-driven disasters and more vulnerable to their impacts.

And the opposite is also true.

Cuts to disaster relief and humanitarian funding hollow out the promise of this institution to heed people’s calls for help.

Recent reductions to the World Food Programme have already forced rations to be halved in several emergencies, leaving families without enough to survive, with mothers sometimes left helpless as their infants wither from lack of adequate baby nutrition.

Thus, our debate today is not only about the role and necessity of humanitarian relief, but about how deeply we believe in this institution, and how willing we are to stand up for it, and its principles.

The United Nations’ humanitarian work stands on a long tradition shaped by the Geneva Conventions, beginning with the first treaty of 1864 and expanded fundamentally through the four Conventions adopted in 1949.

These principles - centered on upholding human dignity at all times, and to everybody - remain the foundation of meaningful humanitarian action.

For millions who would otherwise be left without hope, humanitarian relief provided by the United Nations is the light that reaches them in their darkest hour.

We see this in so many places.

Places like Sudan, where United Nations and civil society teams are working tirelessly to reach families fleeing the atrocities in El Fasher.

In Indonesia, where emergency responders were distributing food and searching for survivors in affected communities after catastrophic floods.

And the Caribbean, where response teams have provided critical support to those hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa.

We see that on a daily basis.

And we have seen it, the central role of the United Nations, over decades, also after man-made or industrial catastrophic accidents, like at the Chernobyl nuclear power plants.

Over the past decades the UN system has gradually shifted its approach from emergency response alone to long-term rehabilitation, capacity building, and sustainable development.    

Especially, as the drivers of these emergencies are many and often interconnected.

Rising temperatures are fueling food-crises globally.

The consequences cascade across countries, across regions, across continents.

If we continue like this with our climate policies, it is estimated that if the planet warms by two degrees, 189 million more people could face food-insecurity.

Because hunger and poverty are not contained by borders.

Again, it is estimated that every 1 percent increase in food insecurity drives nearly 2 percent more people to migrate.

Thus begins a vicious circle.

Climate insecurity leads to hunger and poverty.

Hunger and poverty spur migration.

And this could lead to insecurity again and further conflicts.

This vicious cycle threatens our entire Sustainable Development Agenda – not just SDG2 on Zero Hunger, but all the others as well.

Because when we fail on hunger and poverty, we undermine the foundation of all progress, from education and equality to peace and security.

Underlining again the need of the interconnection of the three pillars this institution was built on: peace and security; sustainable development; and human rights. 

Yet while needs rise, the organizations responding are under immense strain.

Humanitarian access is impeded by insecurity and political obstacles.

Funding gaps continue to widen.

Meanwhile humanitarian workers themselves face escalating risks, with a record number killed or attacked over the past year.

As of late 2025, more than 380 aid workers have been killed - those standing up every day to give their life for this institution.

And the threats facing humanitarian personnel continue to widen, with aid workers increasingly subjected to violence, coercion, and unlawful detention.

This principle of impartiality, the foundation of humanitarian aid, is undermined for example in Afghanistan, where restrictions on female humanitarian workers have directly obstructed operations.

If such practices are allowed to persist, they will erode the universality of humanitarian action and undermine the core principles on which it is built.

In this moment, therefore, our common responsibility is clear.

We must give humanitarian workers and organizations the protection, as well as the financial and political support they need.

Not for them but for all of us.

This entails mobilizing resources more effectively and building stronger partnerships, including with the private sector and philanthropic actors.

This includes also our UN80 reform.

The world is watching, and those who are suffering are counting on us, on you, on all Member States, to uphold the role of the United Nations as a guardian of human dignity in times of crisis.

We can no longer afford to stand behind rigid positions, while humanitarian crises accelerate around us; every day we delay, more lives fall into jeopardy. 

Lives that depend on our ability to bridge differences, not deepen them.

Cooperation is not a weakness.

It is a recognition that the urgency of human suffering demands action over ideology.

It is our common life insurance.

If we fail to commit over and over again on the principles of humanitarian assistance, of human dignity, we fail the very people the United Nations exist to protect.   

Thank you.

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