

RDC: Le Collectif Filimbi – Conclave du Rassemblement (04.10.2016)






NEW YORK, 6 October 2016 – A new public-private partnership between the leaders of the United Nations, the World Bank and the insurance sector has adopted a risk management strategy that seeks to harness insurance to promote economic recovery and resilience to climate hazards and disasters.
The Insurance Development Forum (IDF) said that it has decided to contribute to achieving the G7 “InsuResilience” target of providing 400 million of the most vulnerable people in developing countries with increased access to direct or indirect insurance coverage against the impacts of climate change and related natural catastrophes by 2020.
“For many developing countries with scarce resources, rebuilding is often beyond their means. Typically, a disaster is followed by appeals to bilateral, regional, and international partners for aid relief and financial support,” said Ms. Helen Clark, IDF Co-Chair and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme.
“This support, however, often falls well short of what is required. Systemic lack of funds and recurrent inefficiency of recovery initiatives on the ground impede progress. Insurance can be an efficient, fast-disbursing mechanism to build back better in vulnerable countries and communities hit by disasters, but also to reduce risks and the costs of risks in the long term.”
The IDF was first announced at the COP21 UN climate summit in Paris in December 2015 and officially launched in April 2016.
It is led by a Steering Committee, chaired by Mr. Stephen Catlin, Deputy Executive Chair of XL Group Ltd., with Co-Chairs Ms. Clark and Mr. Joaquim Levy, World Bank Group Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer. Other Steering Committee members include Mr. Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England and Chairman of the Financial Stability Board, and Mr. Robert Glasser, the UN’s Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, as well as 13 insurance industry CEOs. Additional governmental and public sector organizations are expected to engage in the coming year.
The IDF adopted its insurance-based strategy when it met on the sidelines of the recent UN General Assembly session. It approved a proposal to create a Technical Assistance Facility (TAF), which will assemble public and private insurance industry resources and tools necessary to support governments in building public-private partnerships that will better manage the financial consequences of climate events and natural disasters while increasing the use of insurance in emerging markets and developing countries. Work has begun to secure funds for the programme.
The IDF’s work is linked with a string of UN agreements adopted in 2015 to set the global development agenda for years to come. They include the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
“With growing natural disaster losses it is essential that governments learn how to incorporate risk management fundamentals into their planning, budgeting and governing processes so that their citizens can be better protected,” said Mr. Catlin.
Joaquim Levy, IDF Co-Chair and World Bank Group Chief Financial Officer stated that “many emerging market and developing countries lack sufficiently developed insurance markets, which does stifle growth and has a negative impact not only on business but on general welfare, notably among the poorest. The lack of insurance instruments or broader risk-pooling or risk-mitigation mechanisms is also evident in the public sector, affecting government’s ability to respond to natural disasters and other large-scale events”.
Mr. Rowan Douglas, chair of the IDF Implementation Committee and head of the Capital Science and Policy Practice at Willis Towers Watson, said, “We all recognize a unique moment and opportunity to make a huge step forward in the protection of lives, livelihoods and communities – realizing the benefits of insurance across public, private and mutual and cooperative sectors.”
The IDF focuses on members of the “Vulnerable Twenty Group”, which was set up in 2015 and groups the finance ministers of countries highly vulnerable to a warming planet in dialogue and action to tackle global climate change.

South Sudan: UN Falls Short During July Violence in Juba
UNITED NATIONS (Oct. 5, 2016)—The United Nations needs to ensure transparency and accountability for the inadequate response of its peacekeepers during the July crisis in Juba, Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) said in a report released today. For its part, the Security Council should immediately impose an arms embargo, both to help protect civilians from further harm and in response to the national government’s obstruction of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
The 84-page report, Under Fire: The July 2016 Violence in Juba and UN Response, documents how, during four days of intense fighting in Juba in July 2016, the parties to the conflict killed and injured civilians in displaced persons camps with indiscriminate gun and artillery fire. Government forces also broke into a hotel and apartment complex to brutally attack international and national aid workers, and, in the weeks following the crisis, raped South Sudanese women who went outside the displaced persons camps in search of food.
Much of the fighting occurred in close proximity to the main UNMISS bases, which were themselves hit by more than 200 rounds of likely indiscriminate fire. In that environment, the Mission’s defense of the 37,000 displaced persons sheltered on its bases was inconsistent, with some peacekeepers abandoning their posts during heavy fighting while other peacekeepers assisted civilians trying to enter the base perimeter. Outside the UN bases, the Mission’s protection was almost nonexistent, with devastating consequences for South Sudanese civilians and aid workers targeted by government forces.
“The UN peacekeeping mission faced a challenging environment during the July violence in Juba, but it underperformed in protecting civilians inside and outside its bases,” said Federico Borello, Executive Director at CIVIC. “To ensure that such problems are not repeated, it is critical that the UN be transparent about what went wrong and hold accountable any individuals or units that failed to live up to the Mission’s protection mandate.”
Many of the problems exposed during UNMISS’s response to the July violence are not new. In February 2016, government forces attacked the Malakal Protection of Civilians (POC) site, on which 47,000 displaced persons were sheltered. At least 30 civilians were killed and one-third of the camp was burned down. CIVIC’s investigation into that incident, as well as a UN Board of Inquiry (BOI), identified major failings. However, UN leadership refused to divulge which particular troops underperformed, and CIVIC’s new report also shows there was scant accountability, despite promises to repatriate units and specific officers.
In August, the UN Secretary-General appointed a Special Investigation to examine issues related to UNMISS’s response to the July violence in Juba. It is essential that the Special Investigation’s report be made public and lead to meaningful accountability for peacekeeping units as well as for individual civilian and military officials who underperformed, CIVIC said.
Although the Mission needs to perform better in protecting civilians under threat, many of its difficulties are compounded by the inadequate support it has received from the UN Security Council and UN leadership in New York. The crisis exposed major problems with medical care and evacuation; two peacekeepers died, including one who bled for 16 hours, after a UN position was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and the Mission was unable to get them proper medical attention. During critical parts of the fighting, peacekeepers were also unable to stay in their sentry posts along the POC site perimeter, as they were not reinforced with bulletproof material.
For almost three years, the Mission has been repeatedly blocked, harassed, and, at times, even attacked by the parties to the conflict. Civilians throughout the country have also been targeted deliberately, including for killings, sexual violence, abductions, and the destruction of homes and crops. In response, the Security Council has issued numerous condemnations, but failed to take effective action.
“The Security Council has sat idly by as the parties to the conflict have repeatedly obstructed UNMISS’s movement and used weapons, including heavy weapons, against civilians,” Borello said. “It is time for the Council to finally implement an arms embargo.”
Under Fire is based on more than 100 interviews during two weeks of field research in Juba in August 2016 as well as on meetings and Skype interviews in Nairobi, Washington, DC, and New York in July and September 2016. CIVIC also sent a letter to UNMISS requesting official response to seven specific issues related to the July violence. The Mission’s written responses have been incorporated into the report.
Notes to editors:
The Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) works to make warring parties more responsible to civilians before, during, and after armed conflict. We are advocates and advisers finding practical solutions to civilian suffering in war. We believe that warring parties should do everything in their power to avoid harming civilians and that it is never acceptable to walk away from the harm they do cause. More information available at civiliansinconflict.org.
