International Rescue Committee president David Miliband spoke Monday at the 2014 UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Humanitarian Affairs Segment. Conceiving of humanitarian goals as floor targets in the humanitarian sector, he said, would provide a discipline against the tendency for vulnerable people to be forgotten in the drive against poverty.
“Business-as-usual means that the humanitarian sector risks being an afterthought in policy, even though it’s a growing part in the fight against poverty. And I think that actually well-designed humanitarian goals can address this situation head-on. The way to do so is not to conceive of humanitarian goals (HuGos) as separate from the [Millennium Development Goals]....