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Aid Groups in Iraq Face Mounting Obstacles
By Alexander G. Higgins
Associated Press
October 20, 2004Helping Iraq is hard to do. Many aid organizations have already pulled out their international staffs and, faced with the kidnapping of the director of CARE International in Iraq, some are wondering if they should leave altogether. "It's really, really difficult," Marie-Helene Verney, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said Wednesday. "All the NGOs we talked to are really struggling with trying to make the decision." Following the August 2003 attack that killed 22 people at U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, the United Nations has kept virtually all of its international staff out of Iraq, relying instead on local workers and aid groups.
But the kidnapping Tuesday of Margaret Hassan of Care International - who holds British, Irish and Iraqi citizenship and is among the most widely known humanitarian officials in the Middle East - sent another chill through the ranks of already-worried aid workers. Last month Italian aid workers Simona Torretta and Simona Pari were held for three weeks.
A coordinating body of non-governmental organizations in Iraq declined to comment on the latest kidnapping, but Verney said: "The general trend is that everyone is pulling out." She told The Associated Press that it was difficult to say how many NGOs remained in Iraq and how many have international staff. "The problem is that you can't really name them," she said. "There are still a few, but it's becoming more and more difficult."
UNHCR has been polling aid groups to find out what would trigger their withdrawal now that "even Iraqis aren't safe any more if they are working for an international organization," she said. "The risks are the same everywhere and not just for international humanitarian aid workers but also for the Iraqis," said Rana Sidani of the International Committee of the Red Cross. "Every day it's becoming more difficult for the Iraqis and for the Iraqi aid workers."
Even though the Red Cross stresses its neutrality, its Baghdad headquarters was hit by a suicide bomb that killed two Iraqi Red Cross workers and 10 others in October 2003. The organization pulled out its foreign staff and left much of its work to Iraqis. International staff still come in for short trips.
A roadside bomb in February hit workers for a Lutheran World Relief partner organization, halting their explosives removal work. The kidnappings of female aid workers began in April with the abduction of Nahoko Takato of Japan. She was released, but since then at least seven other women were kidnapped and released. Sidani said the Red Cross regards Iraq as one of its worst security problems, mainly because it is so difficult to identify the opponents to the U.S.-led forces and Iraqi government.
Italy has one of the largest contingents still in Iraq. The association of Italians NGOs says there are 11 groups still active across Iraq, but that they have only local staff. The Italian Red Cross, however, said it has at least 140 Italian staffers in Iraq.
The British charity Christian Aid has operated only with local staff since July 2003, said spokesman Oliver Burch. "Even our local partners don't work openly," Burch said. "They use taxis, have unmarked offices."
The British group Save the Children UK pulled its international staff after the U.N. bombing and withdrew from Baghdad completely, said spokesman Paul Hetherington. "We're constantly reevaluating the situation," Hetherington said. "But obviously our return is still a long way away."
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