Mr. John Ging:

I thank the Chairman and the committee for the opportunity to be here and to be able to communicate to you the humanitarian situation that we face globally. I also express my appreciation to Ireland for its steadfast support, both politically and financially.

I also express my appreciation to Ireland for its steadfast support, both politically and financially, in helping the most needy people across the globe, and I will be pleased to provide evidence in that regard.

We opened 2017 with what was regarded as the greatest case load in humanitarian need since the Second World War. Unfortunately, that case load has continued to increase through the first half of this year. Sadly, 80% of the case load can be found in conflict-affected states. This is the result of man-made crisis, which means it could be prevented. It was preventable and it most definitely can also be ended. There is a very important message around the urgency to bring the drivers of this deplorable humanitarian situation in so many of these countries that are affected to an end through better political processes where we can resolve and end conflict.

To give the members a sense of the scale of the global challenge we face, we opened the year with 128.6 million people from 33 countries requiring international humanitarian assistance. Some 65 million of those have been forcibly displaced by conflict. The humanitarian community opened the year seeking and appealing for US$22.2 billion to respond to the needs of 92 million of those 128 million who are targeted as the most vulnerable and the most dependent on assistance. Since the start of the year, the numbers have continued to increase. We now have a global appeal which amounts to US$23 billion to reach 99.3 million people in 37 affected countries. So far this year 26% of that global appeal has been funded.

I will briefly outline some of the key crises and give the members a sense of what the people are suffering and the scale of their plight in those countries. I will group, in the first instance, four counties, which are in peril of famine and one of which has already been affected by famine. They are South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen. In the case of those countries, 20 million people are on the brink of famine and in the case of South Sudan 1 million people have already been affected by famine. In all of these cases, these countries are affected by conflict. Famine is the result of people not being able to access their livelihoods, particularly agriculture. It is an entirely preventable and recoverable situation. It is not driven by drought and while it is exacerbated by harsh climatic conditions, particularly in Somalia, at the root of the issue is the fact that these countries are affected by conflict.

The largest number of people affected in these countries is in Yemen. Among the global landscape of countries affected by humanitarian crises, Yemen does not get adequate attention. It does not have the level of realisation and understanding that is required because it is the largest single case load in humanitarian need, coming from a very poor base in terms of its humanitarian status, even prior to the conflict that is now impeding the conduct of normal life in Yemen. People in Yemen are suffering not only from food insecurity but from a lack of medical care. There is an outbreak of cholera there and it is one of the fastest deteriorating situations that we face.

South Sudan is also a very large and fast-moving crisis because conflict there is intensifying and much of the state infrastructure is collapsing whether it be law and order, the economy or people being able to engage in their livelihoods and so forth. South Sudan is the one country where famine has been declared. Equally, it is the country where the special representative of the Secretary General has highlighted the ominous threat of a genocide such is the intensity of the conflict being conducted and the gravity and barbarity of the violence being visited on the civilian population. It is a truly appalling situation.

Regarding the other large-scale crises, the members will be familiar with Syria, which has been in crisis since 2011. It continues to deteriorate year on year. It is the seventh year of the conflict. A total of 13.5 million people have been in humanitarian need in that country, including 6.3 million people displaced internally and 5 million refugees in the neighbouring countries and beyond. There are some of the worst practices of conflict anywhere in the world inflicted on the civilian population in Syria, including mediaeval sieges affecting more than 625,000 people. That means they are cut off from all assistance and access to assistance. The members can imagine how dreadful their subsistence is in such circumstances. It is about the killing of civilians, the suffering arising from the lack of access to medical care, basic social services and the deterioration in the livelihoods.

The members will also be aware of the crises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Central African Republic, across the Sahel in Mali and South Sudan. These crises have been driven at their core by conflict. They have been protracted, which means that they have been going on for many years. In every single case we see a measurable large deterioration, with an increased number displaced and an increased number who are subjected to unnecessary human suffering.

I have just returned from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea, which is in the headlines for another issue. While we hear much in the global news media about the missile and nuclear issue, we do not hear anything about the humanitarian situation and the human suffering. I want to bring to the members' attention that 30% of the children in North Korea are stunted. That means that the population is chronically under-nourished. We are proud of the work the United Nations is doing in North Korea, helping people at a very subsistence level to survive in what is another of these very difficult circumstances. When one goes to that country one sees the human toil there. It is a country that is cut off form the rest of the world. It does not have much mechanisation, agricultural machinery and so forth, which means that human beings are hand-planting the corn in the fields.

They leave the cities at the planting season to hand-plant the corn. It gives a sense of the scale of the challenge that they all face in that country.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Ireland for its support. Ireland has been at the forefront in leadership on the sustainable development goals. This is an agenda that has been adopted by all member states, to end need and leave nobody behind by 2030. Ireland's ambassador in New York is co-chairing, with the Kenyan ambassador, the development of those goals and also shepherding through very strong global commitment for action. We commend Irish leadership on that issue.

Turning to action, we have many actions that are urgently required in the humanitarian field. I have given numbers of those affected and for funding. I thank Ireland for its generosity to date. Ireland is, for us in the humanitarian field, one of the most generous donors proportional to economic wealth. It has been in the top ten of the donors to the central emergency response fund, which is a very important mechanism that enables us to respond rapidly to escalating crises, and also to respond to the crises that are chronically underfunded. It gives us this resource and we hugely appreciate Ireland's support to that fund, but also to the very many crises across the world. I know that the committee has a paper on that, so I am not going to read out every single case. I want to highlight that.

We have a G20 of financially rich countries, and then we have a different list of the financially generous countries. Here in Dublin today, I am very proud to be an Irishman as well as a UN official, since Ireland is on the list of the top 20 generous countries, even if it is not on the list of the top 20 financially rich countries. I would urge Ireland to continue on this track. Please also recall that if the sustainable development goals are to be achieved, we have to get to 0.7% of gross national income, GNI, in overseas development aid, ODA. There are only five countries in the world that reach that - Ireland's next-door neighbour, the UK, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. I would encourage Ireland to join them and set a global standard for this. It is in every country's self-interest to contribute to an end of global need. It will contribute to a better world for everybody, everywhere. It is all there in the documentation that has been adopted. With that said I will conclude my opening remarks with a high level of appreciation for this opportunity to engage with the committee. It would be most productive to give the committee the chance to raise the issues and questions of most interest to it.