Foreign Affairs Committee to meet with UN director for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, Irishman John Ging

The Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence will tomorrow meet with Mr. John Ging, Director of the Coordination and Response Division at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to hear about the role of the office.

The meeting will commence at 2.30pm in Committee Room 1 tomorrow, Thursday, 18 May 2017.

Committee Chairman, Brendan Smith TD, said “The important work of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) of the United Nations focuses on, amongst other areas, coordinating humanitarian action in alleviating suffering in situations of disaster and emergency. Tomorrow, Committee Members will have the chance to hear a detailed presentation on the work of the OCHA from former Irish Defence Forces officer, Director John Ging. The Committee recently met with Dóchas, MSF and Oxfam to discuss the unprecedented and unacceptable scale of humanitarian situations across the globe, in locations such as Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and North East Nigeria.”

“As a Committee we have addressed many issues relating to these ongoing humanitarian crises globally and we welcome the opportunity to continue this work in hearing expert opinion from Mr. Ging tomorrow on what is being done, via the United Nations, in addressing and alleviating these situations and how Irish funding is being used.”

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