Following the international standards on humanitarian work is essential for Pakistan, as the country is prone to natural and man-made disasters, however the relevant relief agencies need to work in coordination for widespread observance of international standards in this regard.
Talking to media here on Tuesday, Christine Knudsen, Executive Director Sphere said the international standards for humanitarian support had been compiled in a handbook under the Sphere Project (Sphere) that was initiated in 1997 by a group of humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
The idea to develop guidelines or the Handbook was initiated after the Rwanda crisis when it was noted that several aid workers were contributing to harm, while trying to deliver the good, Knudsen said. The aid agencies and authorities should be held formally and legally responsible for the welfare of people within their territory or control and, more generally, for the safety of civilians in armed conflict. She is in Pakistan for consultations with the stakeholders to upgrade the Sphere Handbook, which was first published in 2000 and revised in 2003 and again in 2009-2010.
The revision process sector-wide consultations are conducted, involving a wide range of agencies, organisations and individuals, including governments and United Nations (UN) agencies. The case studies based on the feedback from various agencies who participated in rescue, relief and rehabilitation works during the 2010 floods in Pakistan will be included in the Handbook currently being upgraded.
Knudsen, however, added that the Sphere principles of humanitarian work were not binding on the government agencies or the NGOs, and they were being adopted on volunteer basis by disaster management authorities and NGOs worldwide. "Philippines and Indonesia have officially adopted Sphere handbook, while the disaster management agency in Japan too has adopted the guidelines," she added, "But these are moving principles as improvements comes with experience."
The Handbook was available in Urdu and Pashto too and several disaster management authorities in the country are seriously taking guidelines from it. "If we look at the standards of humanitarian efforts between now and the massive earthquake of 2005, there is a massive improvement in the approach of NGOs and even the authorities," said Farrukh Marvin, Regional Representative Community World Service (CWS) Asia.
The CWS is the implementation partner of Sphere in the country, working closely with NDMA and PDMA and other non government agencies involved in humanitarian works. He said PDMAs of Sindh and the KP had expanded the training base over the international standards in humanitarian works to tehsil level too. "But we need to involve all actors in the field," he added, "We will soon have mobile based applications to spread the Sphere standards on humanitarian works."
The principal users of the Sphere Handbook are practitioners involved in planning, managing or implementing a humanitarian response. This includes staff and volunteers of local, national and international humanitarian agencies, with the aim to improve the quality of their actions during disaster response and to be held accountable for them.
They based Sphere's philosophy on two core beliefs - first, that those affected by disaster or conflict have a right to life with dignity and a right to assistance, while the second steps is to alleviate human suffering arising out of disaster or conflict.
Sphere standards also have guidelines for the military in humanitarian response. The guidelines to protection principles are to avoid causing harm, ensure access to impartial assistance, protect people from violence and assist with rights claims, access to remedies and recovery from abuse. This refers to the role of humanitarian agencies in helping affected people claim their entitlements, and also concerned with helping people overcome the effects of rape and effects of abuse such as physical and psychological, social and economic.
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