The Diplomat in Spain

Photo: OCHA

The Diplomat. 08/07/2018

Spain has become part of the troika of the donor group supporting the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and will hold the presidency of this body in 2019.

The election of Spain took place during the high-level annual meeting of the group, held in Berne on June 25 and 26 and in which Ireland assumed the presidency to replace Switzerland. Spain will preside over this body between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020 and will subsequently relay to Qatar.

During the meeting, the ambassador of Spain to Switzerland, Aurora Díaz-Rato, highlighted the good work done by the Swiss presidency, thanked the good willingness and collaboration shown by the other members of the troika with our country and assured that Spain assumes with enthusiasm the work that now begins.

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Our country will chair the donor group between July 2019 and June 2020

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The Humanitarian Action Office of the Spanish Agency for Cooperation (AECID) is strengthening internally to adequately cover this challenge and to develop a solid and ambitious program in the coming months for the 2019-2020 presidency, according to the agency.

During the conference in Berne, which was attended by the Director and Deputy Secretary-General of the UN for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, participants discussed issues such as the impact of the reform of the United Nations on the humanitarian system, the problem of the internally displaced and the humanitarian financing.

OCHA was created in 1991 as a coordination instrument for all humanitarian agencies and actors. Among its functions is the responsibility to prepare humanitarian appeals and humanitarian response plans for different crises.