At the World Humanitarian Summit Global Consultation held yesterday in Geneva, the world's leading satellite operators, under the umbrella of the EMEA Satellite Operators Association (ESOA) and the Global VSAT Forum (GVF), announced the signing of a Crisis Connectivity Charter with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC).
The Charter drew together global satellite operators including Eutelsat, Hispasat, Inmarsat, Intelsat, SES, Thuraya and Yahsat, embodying a commitment from the satellite community to enhance connectivity in humanitarian emergencies. Natural disasters which have occurred in the last year, such as in Vanuatu, Nepal and the Philippines, have drawn on the satellite sector as part of the first responder team, demonstrating the critical role of communications in crises. Satellite operators offer immediate communications links supporting supply logisitics, urgent medical care and coordination of relief efforts.
The Charter formalises terms and protocols designed to accelerate the ability of emergency response teams to access satellite-based communications when local networks are affected, destroyed or overloaded after a disaster. Terms of the Charter also involve increased coordination to prioritise access to badnwidth for humanitarian purposes during disaster operations, pre-positioned satellite equipment and transmission capacity aduring crises in 20 high-risk countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, as well as training and capacity building for the humanitarian community across all continents.
"ESOA is honoured to have led this effort on behalf of member satellite operators who collectively deliver global coverage and connectivity," stated Aarti Holla, Secretary General of ESOA. "We have to recognize that number of crises around the world is increasing both as a result of climate change and geo-politics. As a result, the unique ability of satellite solutions to help save lives is becoming indispensable and the Charter will enable the ETC to trigger pre-positioned satellite solutions in any one of their 20 high-risk countries or beyond."
“The humanitarian community relies on satellite communications as they are the only technology that are immune to natural disasters and that can be immediately deployed, regardless of constraints such as geography," continued Stephen O’Brien, UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator, who signed the Charter on behalf of UN OCHA. "This is a significant step for the humanitarian community and a step change in the way we have worked with satellite operators in the past."
Chair of the ETC and Chief Information Officer of the World Food Programme (WFP), Jakob Kern, added "The Charter seeks to ensure improved access to communications services in humanitarian emergencies, and with satellite services we can save lives. Through the Crisis Connectivity Charter and the ETC network, we endeavour to ensure that by 2020 all those responding to disasters, including affected people, can communicate to respond, recover and redevelop. Mobilising their members in this way, ESOA and GVF are supporting the ETC in making this vision a reality."
David Hartshorn, Secretary General and signer for GVF, concluded: "Our members provide emergency communications on all continents using key satellite spectrum such as the C-band. We hope governments and administrations the world over will recognize the vital role satellite operators play in the globe’s telecommunications infrastructure and its ability to ensure an immediate, robust and resilient response to disasters."
