Red Cross report says donors put politics before need

A Red Cross report released on Thursday criticised Western governments for focusing humanitarian assistance on Iraq and countries associated with the 'war on terrorism' at the cost of other crises, but aid workers in Afghanistan warned that even the benefits of this international attention can be short-lived. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' "World Disasters Report 2003" said that humanitarian intervention was increasingly driven by political priorities and less according to need. This leads, the document said, to disproportionate amounts of money temporarily pouring into countries where Western governments have been involved in conflict, such as Afghanistan. "While countries targeted in the 'war on terror' have attracted unprecedented levels of humanitarian and reconstruction aid, other - arguably more pressing - crises languish in the shadows," the report states. Although aid agencies in Afghanistan arguably benefited more from the world's attention after 9/11 [the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York] than in other countries, donations and interest have since slowed, humanitarian workers say. "I don't know if it's ignorance or the political agenda, but clearly there's much less funding for Afghanistan than before," Sally Austin, Care International's Assistant Country Director for Afghanistan, told IRIN from the Afghan capital, Kabul. According to humanitarian workers, even when countries are under public scrutiny, funding for humanitarian relief is often inadequate. Austin said that initial global interest after 9/11 failed to provide enough money. "US $5 billion was committed to Afghanistan in Tokyo [donors' conference] over five years, but the estimated needs for the reconstruction of the country range from $15 billion to $30 billion," she said. Austin said that as the spotlight of international attention started to move away from Afghanistan to Iraq, necessary humanitarian services came under threat. "We're very worried right now about the Kabul water supply system we've been running since '95 because the US government funding for it runs out in September," she said. Fresh water is essential for the local population's health, sanitation and agriculture, but as Austin says, it may be stopped altogether if funds are not provided: "It only costs $1 a year per person, but we just can't get the money to support it. That's really worrying," she said. Although the situation is difficult for aid workers in Afghanistan, the report says it is harder still to gain funding for "chronic emergencies" in Angola, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). "We are facing a real inequity in global humanitarian practice where many of the world's disasters have became forgotten emergencies," said Juan Manuel Suárez del Toro, president of the Federation. Del Toro said the aid community and donors should resist the political agenda and help neglected areas: "They must act on their principles and intervene where the needs are most acute." According to the Federation, in April 2003 alone, the US Department of Defence raised $1.7 billion for relief in Iraq. In the same month, however, the UN World Food Programme faced a billion dollar shortfall for its emergency relief plan for 40 million Africans facing starvation across 22 countries. Four months after the Federation's emergency appeal was launched in September 2002 to raise funds to tackle the same famine, only four percent of the target had been raised. Across Asia, Africa and Latin America, the Federation called for assistance for tens of millions of people who fled their homes to avoid violence, natural disasters and economic ruin. In Africa, droughts, floods, conflict, infectious diseases and the HIV/AIDS pandemic should be targeted, the report recommended. The IFRC report is available at: www.ifrc.org