Remarks for Andrew Wyllie Human Rights Council, 9th Session of the Forum on Minority Issues on Minorities in Humanitarian Crises 25 November 2016 7 minutes approx. Ladies and Gentlemen, Excellencies, Esteemed Colleagues, I wish to start by thanking the Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Isak-Ndiaye for inviting me to speak to you today. On behalf of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), I am very honoured and pleased to join you on this panel. The Special Rapporteur’s report, and the forum discussions yesterday and today, show us that that we still have a long way to go in meeting the specific needs of minorities in humanitarian crises. And there are some valuable recommendations for all of us gathered here on how we should move forward. Conflict and displacement can affect individuals in different ways depending on factors such as age, gender, and ethnic, linguistic, social, religious and other backgrounds. Crises may exacerbate pre-existing patterns of inequality and discrimination or give rise to new vulnerabilities. Certain groups of persons, such as minorities, as well as certain persons among minorities – including women, children, persons with disabilities, older persons, and lesbian gay bisexual, and transgender persons – may face multiple or intersecting forms of discrimination. They are more often marginalised within communities and less represented in formal decision-making structures. As a result, their specific concerns may be overlooked in needs assessments and in aid programming and delivery. Failure to acknowledge the particular risks faced by diverse members of the community, not only results in a failure to address these concerns, but it might well lead to actions that inadvertently increase these risks and reinforce discrimination and exclusion. As such, incorporating gender, age and diversity analysis at all stages of the humanitarian programme cycle – from preparedness efforts, throughout the duration of a crisis and beyond – is vital to understanding and addressing the different protection needs and risks within a community. We must work harder to ensure that humanitarian action in crises does not exacerbate existing discrimination, but rather seeks to address the special needs of minorities and helps to reduce discrimination. Allow me to highlight a few key areas where there is progress and where we – the humanitarian community – must continue to focus our efforts: First, humanitarian agencies have in fact already developed policies, tools and approaches to achieve this, through particular methods of data collection, assessment, communication and