Danish Refugee Council (DRC)

Involvement with SBP

In the beginning of the 1990’s the global refugee situation called for a better and more effective emergency response. The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator was established but the need for additional personnel for rapid emergency response persisted. The idea of UNHCR receiving relevant and experienced personnel from external organisations was born. In the spring of 1991, UNHCR approached DRC requesting personnel for Iraq and Turkey related to the Kurdish population fleeing Northern Iraq during the first Gulf War.

Within the following months over one hundred people from DRC, DRC’s member organisations, the Danish Emergency Management Agency and the Defence Command Denmark deployed together with people from Norway and Sweden to UNHCR Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Iran as field officers, logisticians and radio operators, all supported by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Danida. It was a success and in the autumn of 1991 an agreement on the establishment of a stand-by list of experienced and trained experts was signed between UNHCR, DRC and Norwegian Refugee Council.

Since then, the DRC Stand-by Roster has, with the assistance of Danida, deployed thousands of experts to global emergencies and even though the needs and the requirements from the UN have changed, the objective of our work has remained the same – to save lives and alleviate suffering of people affected by conflict or natural disasters.

DRC has been contributing and engaging with the SBP Network in the following ways:

1. Financial contribution to the SBP Network, including by supporting its core staff.

2. Participation and active engagement in at least one of the existing Working Groups.

3. Participation and engagement at the Annual Consultation and Mid-Annual Consultation.