War on terrorism ‘threatens aid efforts’
The Red Cross has warned that the international effort to curb global terrorism is threatening the legitimacy of humanitarian agencies.
The World Disasters Report 2003 published today by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies shows that donors are shifting their support towards high profile aid efforts in politically strategic conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan and ignoring more long-term chronic emergencies in countries such as Somalia.
The report gives the example of the $1.7 billion of relief and reconstruction aid given by the US Department of Defence to Iraq compared to the $1 billion shortfall to the UN’s funds to avert starvation among 40 million Africans across 22 countries.
Juan Manuel Su rez del Toro, president of the International Federation explained: ‘We are facing a real inequity in global humanitarian practice where many of the world’s wars and disasters have become forgotten emergencies. If the aid community and donors are committed to providing aid on an impartial basis they must act on their principles and intervene where the needs are most acute,’
The report also warns that blurring the lines between civilian and military humanitarian assistance, which occurred in Iraq and Kosovo, could result in aid workers losing their impartial status and being targeted or even killed.
