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http://www.ipsnews.net Need and Risks Never Higher for Humanitarian Work
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 18, 2010 (IPS) - The United Nations and other relief organisations will observe World Humanitarian Day Thursday amid steadily increasing attacks on aid workers. Established by the General Assembly in December 2008, Aug. 19 also marks the seventh anniversary of the truck bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, which killed 22 U.N. staff members in 2003. The day aims to increase understanding of humanitarian activities and to honour humanitarian workers who have been killed or injured while carrying out their work. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon noted that "aid workers represent what is best in human nature". Ban also expressed concern Monday over the increased attacks on humanitarian workers, following various incidents involving U.N. personnel. On Wednesday, a base of the U.N. mission MONUSCO was attacked in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), by a large group of unidentified people. Three Indian peacekeepers were killed and six more were injured. Concerns were also raised by the abduction last week of two Jordanian peacekeepers working with the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force UNAMID, which took over operations in Darfur in 2008. The officers, Ahmed Qeisi and Nabil Kilani, were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen from their homes in Nyala, Western Sudan, but have since been released unharmed. Aid workers have frequently been the targets of violence and abduction, starting in Biafra, Nigeria from 1967 to 1970, Ethiopia in the 1980s and Afghanistan in the 1990s. From 1997 to 2006, attacks on aid workers increased by 77 percent, although this is partly due to a large rise in the overall number of aid workers. In 2009, 278 humanitarians were victims of 139 serious security incidents, compared with 1999 when 65 humanitarians were involved in 34 such incidents. Last year, 102 humanitarian workers were killed. Michael Barnett, professor of political science and co- author of the book "Humanitarianism in Question: Politics, Power and Ethics", told IPS that "there is relatively little appreciation of the kinds of very real sacrifices made by aid workers. Days of recognition are important because they really do serve educational value." However, Barnett's colleague and co-author of the same book, Thomas Weiss, told IPS that "there are simply too many commemorative days for too many causes. This day goes largely unnoticed." The United Nations for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says key humanitarian principles include humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. "It is a constant tightrope walk to remain neutral but we are and have to keep on insisting on that status," Patrick McCormick, spokesperson for the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, told IPS. Many challenge the apolitical and neutral image that humanitarian agencies strive to have, arguing that aid is mainly monopolised by the West. Barnett noted that "all religions and cultures have traditions of charity, relief and assistance to strangers, and it is important that we recognize the plurality of giving that exists". Aid agencies are mostly Western in their origins and financing, and only around 10 percent are from non-OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, which is "not trivial, but not impressive, especially as it is tied to special clients of Saudi Arabia or China," Weiss told IPS. "Neutrality, actual or perceived, which amounts to the same thing, is impossible in contemporary war zones. This is the case for humanitarian action and it is certainly the case for reconstruction and development," he said. Some argue that the perception, or misperception, that humanitarian aid is influenced by specific Western ideologies or Christianity, is the cause of the escalating number of attacks on aid workers. "It could be that aid has become more politicised and Western agencies are viewed as the instrument of Western foreign policies. It also could be that aid agencies have more money and therefore are a grand opportunity," Barnett suggested. However, others support the notion that attacks on aid personnel are "a part of a cold calculation that the U.N. and humanitarians of all stripes will abandon lethal arenas", as Weiss claims. World Humanitarian Day aims to draw attention to the kind of complexities and difficulties that surround humanitarian missions all over the world. To highlight this, the theme for this year will be "I am a Humanitarian". A group of aid agencies has also prepared a four-minute film about humanitarian work, and the secretary-general will lay a wreath in front of the memorial plaque in remembrance of the 22 U.N. staff members killed in Iraq.
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