Forum on Minority Issues Ninth session: Minorities in situations of humanitarian crisis Remarks by Christine Knudsen, Director, Sphere 24 November 2016 Thank you for the invitation to join the panel today on this important occasion. It is perhaps telling of our world today that this ninth session of the Forum on Minority Issues is focused on minorities in situations of humanitarian crisis. The number of people affected by humanitarian crisis has almost doubled in the past decade. The UN estimates that more than 87 million people require humanitarian aid in dozens of countries today. Of those, some 12.4 million people are newly displaced in 2015 alone, about 2/3 of them in their own countries. As the number of people affected by disaster or conflict reaches new highs, it is certainly timely to consider the specific situation of those who may be disenfranchised, at heightened risk, and with fewer resources for protection and action. Even without the testimonies which we have heard already today, we see reports of minorities across the globe being targeted for abuse and harassment, intentionally forced to flee, and even killed as a strategy of war in conflicts. Displacement in particular is often triggered from deep underlying and unresolved tensions between majority and minority groups, whether national, ethnic, religious or linguistic. In addition to that, the poor are disproportionately affected in natural disasters, and minorities usually are disproportionately poor, leading to compounded vulnerabilities. The effects of crisis are many. And they accumulate exponentially as physical and social resources are continuously taxed and exhausted over time. I find myself in an unusual role on this distinguished panel, that of a non-lawyer and a non-specialist in minority rights. I do hope that I can nonetheless add a useful perspective—that of how we use legal tenets and tools to bring practical solutions to communities in crisis including minorities. International humanitarian law, refugee law, and disaster law create a powerful framework for the protection and fulfillment of rights—including the principle of non-discrimination and the specific rights of minorities—yet we continue to see this disproportionate impact. What can be done to translate the legal framework into practice? Sphere was launched by humanitarian practitioners in 1997 to think about this very problem. While initially a voluntary attempt to define common standards, to promote quality and accountability within the humanitarian sector, it has always located this work within a wider legal, ethical and even moral framework. Indeed, Sphere represented a fundamental shift at the time—away from a pure needs-based