SUMMARY OF UNITED NATIONS REVISED COMMON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000913 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS AND PRM STATE ALSO PASS TO USAID AID/W FOR ANE/SAA AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA FOR RTHAYER AND BDEEMER BANGKOK FOR OFDA TDOLAN KATHMANDU FOR OFDA WBERGER USMISSION GENEVA FOR KYLOH SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS AND PRM STATE ALSO PASS TO USAID AID/W FOR ANE/SAA AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA FOR RTHAYER AND BDEEMER BANGKOK FOR OFDA ? TDOLAN KATHMANDU FOR OFDA ? WBERGER USMISSION GENEVA FOR KYLOH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PINS PREF PGOV EAID CE SUBJECT: SUMMARY OF UNITED NATIONS REVISED COMMON HUMANITARIAN ACTION PLAN 2007, SRI LANKA ¶1. (U) The Interagency Standing Committee Country Team held a mid-year review meeting on the revised Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP) 2007 for the international donor community on June 14, 2007. The U.S., Japan, UK, South Korea, Australia, Canada, India, France, Sweden, and others other donors were represented. From USAID, Mission Director Rebecca Cohn and Humanitarian Assistance Program Manager John Lee Park attended the meeting, which identified humanitarian gaps and needs in response to the emergency humanitarian crisis in the North and East of Sri Lanka. ¶2. (U) The CHAP is a comprehensive approach to improve the coordination of the UN and humanitarian organizations? efforts, as well as a a platform for advocacy and fundraising. Each of the responsible UN agencies made presentations on on the current situation and future needs in the following sectors: water and sanitation, education, food, shelter, protection, health and nutrition, agriculture, economic recovery and infrastructure, security and coordination and support services. ¶3. (SBU) The UN agencies emphasized that the future emergency response will need to address support for early recovery for recently returned internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the East and pre-positioning emergency supplies for the North for probable new displacements. UNHCR and ICRC are forecasting as many as 350,000 new IDPs in the North in the event of intensified fighting near the Mannar, Vavuniya, Jaffna, and Trincomalee areas, which border the Liberation Tigers of Tamil of Eelam (LTTE)-controlled territory. ¶4. (SBU) UN agencies said that the mid-year CHAP for 2007 justifies additional funds in order to assist the present 234,500 IDPs and 70,500 recently returned IDPs, and to prepare for new IDPs in the North. The original requirement to meet the needs of all sectors for 2007 was roughly $64.5 million, and commitments to the original CHAP by 13 donors reached over $46.3 million. The CHAP?s updated requirement for 2007 is now approximately $107.2 million, translating into an unmet need of $61.8 million. ¶5. (U) Most sectors requested 50% above original requests. Several sectors, such as Health (implemented by the World Health Organization) and Economic Recovery and Infrastructure (implemented by the UNDP) received little or no donor support in the last year. The UNDP stated that a proper recovery from disaster must include a transition from emergency relief to sustainable COLOMBO 00000913 002 OF 002 development, but which has not occurred in Sri Lanka. As of the date of this meeting, the UNDP has not received any funds under the CHAP. Food and nutrition (implemented by the World Food Program) is a priority for IDPs and requires the largest amount of funds. Food for Peace has recently contributed $5.1 million to World Food Program under the CHAP and reduced unmet requirements to $16 million. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: With a rapidly changing humanitarian environment and rising conflict, there is a financial gap in all sectors. It is necessary to continue supporting IDPs in their present place of displacement, provide assistance to IDPs returning to their places of origin, and pre-position relief items for contingency planning for the North. OFDA and Food for Peace have provided important assistance and strong collaboration during the ongoing humanitarian crisis. USAID looks forward to their mission to Sri Lanka July 6-12 and the possibility of offering further, badly needed support to meet humanitarian requirements in Sri Lanka. Moore