A/RES/54/98 Page 2 1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General, 1 prepared in pursuance of its resolution 52/171 on the participation of volunteers, “White Helmets”, in activities of the United Nations in the field of humanitarian relief, rehabilitation and technical cooperation for development; 2. Encourages voluntary national and regional actions aimed at making available to the United Nations system, through the United Nations Volunteers, national volunteer corps such as the White Helmets on a standby basis, in accordance with accepted United Nations procedures and practices, in order to provide specialized human and technical resources for emergency relief and rehabilitation; 3. Expresses its appreciation for the commendable progress of the White Helmets initiative as a singular voluntary international effort to provide the United Nations system with volunteer expertise to respond, in a quick and coordinated manner, to humanitarian relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and development, while preserving the non-political, neutral and impartial character of humanitarian action; 4. Recognizes with appreciation that the White Helmets, in close cooperation with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs of the Secretariat and as an operational partner of the United Nations Volunteers, are an efficient and viable mechanism for making pre-identified and trained homogeneous teams available to the United Nations system, in support of immediate relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and development activities, in the light of the increasing number, growing magnitude and complexity of natural disasters and other emergencies; 5. Calls upon Member States to promote the facilitation of cooperative actions between the United Nations system and the civil society, through national volunteer corps, in order to strengthen the United Nations capacities for early and effective response to humanitarian emergencies, and invites them to make the commensurate financial resources available through the special financing window of the Special Voluntary Fund of the United Nations Volunteers; 6. Encourages Member States to identify and support their respective national focal points for the White Helmets in order to continue to provide the United Nations system with an accessible global network of rapid response facilities in case of humanitarian emergencies; 7. Invites Member States, international financial institutions, regional organizations and the United Nations system to consider ways and means to ensure the integration of the White Helmets initiative into their programme activities, particularly those related to humanitarian and disaster relief assistance; 8. Invites the Secretary-General, on the basis of the experience acquired, to consider further the potential use of White Helmets as a resource for preventing and mitigating the effects of emergencies and post-conflict humanitarian emergencies and, in this context, to maintain an adequate structure for the White Helmets liaison functions, taking into account the ongoing reforms process; 1 A/54/217. /...