World Humanitarian Summit - North & Southeast Asia: Live online consultation on humanitarian response in situations of armed conflict

Event description

On 19 June 2014, PHAP hosted an online event on the theme of humanitarian response in situations of armed conflict in North and Southeast Asia. The event dealt with regionally relevant issues such as population displacement, accountability of governments and aid organizations, access of people to humanitarian action, and protection of civilians. Speakers included Carsten Völz, Humanitarian Director of Oxfam International, Cecilia Jimenez,  National Director of the IDP Project for the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, and Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, Deputy Head of the regional office for Asia and the Pacific of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Recording

Event summary

An event summary is available of the discussions:

Event Summary

Participant input

Throughout the event, participants asked a range of questions regarding the role of the humanitarian community during situations of armed conflict in North and South East Asia. To view a list of questions posed by participants, click the link below.

Questions by participants

PHAP asked event participants three overarching questions regarding the changes, challenges, and necessary mechanisms of effective humanitarian response in situations of armed conflict in North and South East Asia. The responses from participants, which will feed into the consultation process, can be read using the links below.

What are the main challenges for humanitarian response and meeting the needs of affected people in situations of armed conflict in North and Southeast Asia?

In what ways have humanitarian needs in situations of armed conflict in North and South East Asia changed over the last ten years?

What concrete measures should be undertaken in North and South East Asia in order to improve humanitarian response in situations of armed conflict?

Speakers

Carsten Völz is the Humanitarian Director of Oxfam International. He has been active in international humanitarian assistance and development cooperation since 1994. Carsten has worked in grassroots projects and country programmes, with regional and global responsibilities across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central America. Over the past two decades, he has led several leading humanitarian organizations’ major disaster response and recovery programmes from Rwanda to the Balkans to Darfur, in the South Asian floods and the Horn of Africa drought. Carsten’s recent positions include those of Global Head of Emergency Operations of CARE International and Sudan Country Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council. He is also Executive in Residence at INSEAD’s Social Innovation Centre and  a board member of the Sphere project (Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response).

Cecilia Jimenez is currently the National Director of the IDP Project for the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines. Prior to this, she was a Senior Training and Legal Officer of IDMC/NRC based in Geneva. A Philippine lawyer with specialisation in human rights and migration, Cecilia has protection field experience primarily in Southeast Asia and has over two decades of experience in NGO human rights advocacy for the Asia-Pacific region. She also has teaching experience as an Adjunct Professor on human rights law and on IHL and as trainer and legal consultant for a variety of academic and NGO consultancies on capacity-building, strategy formulation and partnerships.

Sebastian Rhodes Stampa is the Deputy Head of the regional office for Asia and the Pacific of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and resident civil-military coordination expert.