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NGOs Demand Access and Transparency in Humanitarian Aid- NGOs - Global policy Forum NGOs Demand Access and Transparency in Humanitarian Aid
By Ruth Gidley
Alertnet
February 17, 2003
Feb 17 Relief agencies meeting in Switzerland at the weekend warned governments and donors preparing for possible war in Iraq that humanitarian action should be impartial and there should be a clear separation between military and civilian players.
The first conference by the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), organised well before it realised how timely the event would be, raised NGO concerns about an increasing military presence in the humanitarian field and asked for transparency from the military about its humanitarian plans and access to people in need.
"Those in need must have access to impartial assistance delivered by non-belligerents," said an ICVA statement. Ideas from the conference were fed into a weekend meeting called by the Swiss government to promote dialogue between humanitarian actors in Iraq.
Anders Laderkarl, chair of ICVA and head of the international department of the Danish Red Cross, attended the meeting called by the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He told AlertNet governments had not appeared ready to commit themselves to funding preparations for humanitarian assistance in the event of conflict in Iraq.
However, he said: "It was a good opportunity to blow the horn that the world is not ready yet to take the necessary steps for humanitarian response, and that it is now acceptable to plan for humanitarian consequences (of war in Iraq) from an NGO point of view."
He said governments seemed to be leaving the planning to their military colleagues. "We don’t know what they are up to and that makes it very difficult for us. We don’t need to know what they are doing in war, but we need to know when they’re planning humanitarian activities."
Laderkarl said the Swiss had suggested establishing a committee for humanitarian issues in Iraq, comparible to the Afghan Support Group, but there was no reaction from other governments. The meeting was attended by representatives of NGOs, U.N. agencies, European and Asian governments and Iraq’s neighbouring countries, but not the United States.
At the ICVA conference, representatives of human rights, humanitarian and development NGOs from Europe, North America, Africa and Asia discussed the implications of the increasing presence of military forces in the humanitarian arena.
Delegates said there was a growing tendency for the military and governments to appropriate the language of humanitarianism and human rights, and for military actors to engage in humanitarian work. At the same time, they said that many international NGOs – especially ones from the United States -- were more and more dependent on government donors for their funding.
The participants were informed by their experiences of conflicts during the past decade – in places such as Kosovo and Afghanistan – where major donors to NGOs were also parties to war. "It’s not a new question," said Rafael Vila San Juan of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) International. "Humanitarian action as it’s understood today was born in the battlefield, so since its birth it has had a relationship with the military."
BLURRING IDENTITIES The debate oscillated between different stances on pacifism, the ethics of funding sources and whether NGOs could condone military participation in the humanitarian field. Most NGOs opposed military involvement, especially in delivering aid. They said blurring the identities of combatants and relief workers could compromise the security of NGO staff and aid recipients by threatening the perception of their independence and neutrality.
Several had encountered U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in civilian clothing. "They were dressed like us, they were driving vehicles a lot like ours -- they looked like us, except for the guns on their hips," said Nigel Pont of Mercy Corps. Hugo Slim of Oxford Brookes University in England argued NGOs were inconsistent in preaching for a more humane world while protecting their territory from military encroachment.
"Have we become a self-interested clique putting our own interests above the needs of women and children?" he asked. Slim said there was an analogy between humanitarianism and humour. "Laughter is a universal good. What would the world be like if only clowns could make people laugh?" "Be careful," warned Vila San Juan. "Of course we should all laugh and joke, but what would happen to the circus if we asked the lion to be clown, and took him out of his cage?"
Mohamed Ibrahim Suleiman of the Sudan-based Islamic Relief Agency (ISRA) told AlertNet: "Every professional needs to be trained. Soldiers are trained to destroy and to get out safely. They’re not trained how to do humanitarian work."
Vila San Juan said: "Our role is not to demonise the armed forces. We need to engage with them, since we work in the same sphere." Slim suggested a better analogy would be with brain surgery. "It’s needed, but it would be disastrous if everybody tried to do it." He acknowledged that there was anxiety about military motives. Quoting the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, he said: "Benevolence is a great weapon in war."
Vila San Juan said that instead of beginning NGO-military discussions on cooperation with a definition of common ground, it would be more useful to first clarify their very different interests. "While we are committed to people in need, the military is accountable to governments or non-state actors."
Slim suggested that people themselves should choose whether they could take kindness from soldiers. "If they don’t have a choice, there’s a problem." NGOs had different opinions on whether they could ethically accept humanitarian funding from a government or international body party to the same conflict. Vila San Juan of MSF argued against taking money from any section of a belligerent state. Nigel Pont said his organisation, Mercy Corps International, was funded largely by the U.S. Agency for International Development but did not take direct funding from the military and was an independent actor in providing humanitarian assistance in conflict zones such as Afghanistan. Professor B.S. Chimni of Jawaharlal Nehru University in India said NGOs should be careful not to become the caring branch of the status quo.
POSITION ON WAR Slim argued that Southern NGOs were often forced to make the same difficult decisions about funding sources. "We are now facing issues that colleagues in Colombia and Ethiopia have had for years. We are now just as uncomfortable in war (as them). Maybe we should ask them what to do, or hand over to them."
"We’d probably be told there’s no fixed answer, and that we should add juggling to our skills of clowning and brain surgery." There were different views on whether it was possible to condemn war outright. Iain Levine, programme director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), said there was intense debate in his organisation. However, he said: "We do not take position on governments going to war. If we opposed war, our reports on human rights abuses would not be taken seriously."
P.M. Tripathi, president of the Association of Voluntary Agencies for Rural Development in New Delhi, said: "Violence should be regretted in every situation." He said that not taking a position on the rightness of war itself might be expedient in the short term. "In the long term, I'm not sure."
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sets guidelines for legal behaviour in war but does not decide on whether conflicts are legitimate, in order to ensure its access. Bertrand Kern of the ICRC said: "There is a richness in having a diversity of views. They are complementary. There is not a standard way of acting."
The ICVA delegates reached a consensus that humanitarian aid should be provided on an impartial basis and that the military should never be in control of humanitarian action. They said that this could be a serious issue in Iraq. The New York Times reported last week that General Tommy R. Franks -- chief of U.S. Central Command -- said in some cases the military would provide leadership and suggestions, and in other cases would offer its help coordinating the work of other organisations.
"Civilian, humanitarian organisations cannot operate under the command of the military," said Vila San Juan, a member of the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response, which is an alliance of international NGOs involved in emergency humanitarian assistance.
Levine of HRW said: "The military can play an important role. By respect for the law they can promote the well-being of civilians and provide safe access for humanitarian actors. They must respect the impartiality of humanitarian agencies and ensure they are free to operate."
Vila San Juan said: "In days when everything tends to be standardised, we can still evaluate case by case. Not all wars are exactly the same. Not all armed forces are perceived exactly the same by people." ICVA Coordinator Ed Schenkenberg said military involvement in humanitarian work should take into account the access and capacity of civilian organisations. If NGOs were unable to respond sufficiently, especially in peacetime emergencies, the issues were different. "It is accepted in a natural disaster, such as (flooding in) Mozambique (in 2000)," he said.
Levine said: "Military assets can play a role in the provision of humanitarian assistance, but only as a last resort."
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