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Congressional Briefing On Gender Equality And Economic Growth

Making Protection a Priority
4/23/04

The InterAction Protection Working Group of the Humanitarian Policy and Practice Committee presented congressional staff with their new paper, "Making Protection a Priority: Integrating Protection and Humanitarian Assistance" at a congressional briefing on April 23.

Attendees learned about how and why humanitarian assistance programs should include the protection of civilians. According to the panelists, Mike Wessells with the Christian Children's Fund and Christine Knudsen with Save the Children, there is inadequate protection for civilians in emergencies. The panelists noted that during World War I, 90 percent of casualties were soldiers while today 90 percent are civilians - mostly women and children.

The panelists recommend integrating protection issues into humanitarian assistance programs by:

integrating protection concerns when delivering such services as food, shelter, health, education, water and sanitation;
collecting accurate data of vulnerable people, including women and children;
training humanitarian staff in the skills and tools needed to design programs that integrate protection and humanitarian services;
improving coordination among agencies; and
using dialogue and discussion to encourage the delivery of aid in a manner that assists the most vulnerable.

The briefing was attended by congressional staff and representatives from the private sector and the development community. Opening remarks were provided by InterAction President Mary McClymont, and the session was moderated by Lucy Brown with the American Red Cross.

Download the report: "Making Protection a Priority: Integrating Protection and Humanitarian Assistance"

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