- says humanitarian policy analyst on WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY

A strong call for the United Nations to be more daring and speculative about future threats to human kind, and less of a “half-hearted advocate” for underlying hazards and solutions to crises, has been made on the first ever World Humanitarian Day by the Director of the Humanitarian Futures Programme at King’s College, London, Dr. Randolph Kent.

Criticising the UN for failing to show intellectual leadership in the face of new types of humanitarian challenges, he says the organisation is “deeply risk averse when it comes to thinking beyond the norm”

Dr. Kent says it is distressing that the UN is unwilling to anticipate “what might be” and to combine the disciplines and expertise from more than thirty funds, programmes and specialised agencies which comprise the organisation, to “plan from the future”.

“This would require the UN to use all its rescources to engage in longer-term strategic analysis and planning, focusing on potential vulnerabilities.  But to date it has shown little inclination to contemplate hazards and solutions we can anticipate,” he says.

Dr. Kent accuses the UN of being “stove-piped in the extreme” and having “little incentive to think holistically”. He feels that for an organisation possessing almost every major discipline, it is disappointing to see how underutilised its capactities are.

The HFP Director calls for the UN with its global reach to serve as a “world standard bearer” and draw upon the extensive expertise of NGOs and governments to ensure that humanitarian norms, standards and principles are known, supported and, “to the extent possible, enforced.”  He says such a role would require the combined technical expertise of individual UN agencies, funds and programmes and “the sort of commitment and passion for which World Humanitarian Day should be a living symbol.”

His warning is that whatever form UN advocacy takes, it must be heard and understood or else those for whom World Humanitarian Day was created – “to honor all those humanitarian workers who have lost their lives in the cause of duty” – will have made their sacrifices in vain.

 “I’d like to see the UN’s Secretary-General issue an annual state of humanitarian preparedness, or there could be an annual Davos-type assembly in which representatives of a wide range of potential humanitarian actors could gather to reflect on practical measures to prevent or prepare for future humanitarian crises.”!

Dr. Kent says a group of “wise persons” could not only take the lead in the UN’s proposed role of standard-bearer, but could also serve as advocates for longer-term prevention, preparedness and response. “That group could enhance the UN’s comparative advantage as a uniquely global and relatively trusted institution, by adding its voice to the needs for more strategic approaches to humanitarian futures.”

To read the HFP Director's open letter to the United Nations in full in the HFP blog, please click here.