Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear colleagues
Three months ago, cyclone “Winston” swept over Fiji. It was the strongest tropical cyclone ever to hit this island nation. “Winston” caused many deaths and enormous devastation. But the damage could have been even worse, if “Winston” had not changed its course and if it had not been for Fiji’s integrated approach of prevention and preparedness.
While natural hazards cannot be avoided, we can take preventive measures to limit disaster risks and to reduce human suffering by strengthening community resilience. However, despite such measures, natural hazards and climate change will continue to cause displacement, and these numbers are likely to increase.
In view of rising global temperatures, more frequent extreme weather events and population growth, we need to think about those who are forced to flee their homes. We are talking about more than 203 million people over the past eight years – that is more than 25 million people each year or one individual every second!
Forced displacement related to disasters, including the adverse effects of climate change, is one of the big global challenges of this century. We are gathering here to develop common and effective answers to this challenge, and I am grateful for your participation.
Together with Norway, Switzerland launched the Nansen Initiative in December 2012. Our aim was to obtain a better understanding of disaster-induced displacement, identify best practices and develop consensus on how to best assist and protect people affected. We were supported in our efforts by a group of like-minded States and particularly affected countries, namely Australia, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Germany, Kenya, Mexico, and the Philippines.
Considerable headway has been made since then. Consultations with representatives from governments and civil society from more than one hundred States provided a vast range of insights on disaster dynamics in different regions and on effective practices and experiences in the affected countries. This information was compiled in a Protection Agenda. This agenda was endorsed by no fewer than 109 States at the Global Consultation of the Nansen Initiative in Geneva in October 2015.
The Protection Agenda provides a toolbox for affected countries and the international community at large. It is so to say an invitation to learn from the experience of others, to become more consistent, and to enhance action. And it points out existing gaps on which future action should be focused.
Implementing the Protection Agenda and addressing these normative, institutional, operational, and knowledge gaps is our common task.
If the Nansen Initiative was a vital first step, we are here to move forward and take a major second step. With the launch of the Platform on Disaster Displacement here in Istanbul today, we are indeed entering a new phase. I invite you all to join forces in better protecting persons displaced by disasters.
With so many crises and challenges confronting us today, our commitment to fostering dialogue and inclusive solutions is more important than ever. Action will be necessary at the national, regional and international level, involving a broad range of thematic fields – humanitarian action, migration, environmental policies and others. It will also be essential to take into account the considerable regional diversity with regard to cross-border disaster-induced displacement and the respective experiences and responses.
I am very pleased that we were able to bring together an extended group of committed countries from all regions ‒ the founding members of the new Platform on Disaster Displacement. You will take up leadership as regional champions in order to make use of the findings of the Nansen Initiative and implement the Protection Agenda in accordance with specific realities in your region.
As outgoing Co-Chair of the Nansen Initiative, Switzerland will remain a committed actor in this continuous endeavour. We are confident that under the leadership of Germany and Bangladesh, this next phase will allow for enhanced action, coordination and cooperation, based on the Protection Agenda, in order to effectively address disaster-induced displacement.
Switzerland is grateful to all of you for your commitment to humanity and for helping to find ways of better protecting men, women and children forced to flee from the forces of nature.