The Interagency Standing Committee was established in June 1992 in response to General Assembly Resolution 46/182 that called for strengthened coordination of humanitarian assistance. Within the humanitarian community IASC provides a forum that brings together a broad range of UN and non-UN humanitarian partners including UN humanitarian agencies, IOM, three consortia of major international NGOs and the Red Cross movement represented by ICRC and IFRC. The primary role of the IASC is to formulate humanitarian policy to ensure coordinated and effective humanitarian response to both complex emergency and to natural disasters.
The primary objectives of the IASC in complex and major emergencies include:
- to develop and agree on system-wide humanitarian policies
- to allocate responsibilities among agencies in humanitarian programmes
- to develop and agree on a common ethical framework for all humanitarian activities
- to advocate common humanitarian principles to parties outside the IASC
- to identify areas where gaps in mandates or lack of operational capacity exist
- to resolve disputes or disagreement about and between humanitarian agencies on system-wide humanitarian issues.
The IASC website includes links to IASC membership, products, and the secretariat.