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On Tuesday, the Norwegian Refugee Council invited donors, state representatives and humanitarian agencies to a high-level conference in Brussels to discuss the threats to humanitarian principles and consider the way forward. Official funding for humanitarian relief reached 11 billion dollars in 2011, yet distortions in the way it is allocated mean that distribution is neither efficient nor equitable, according to the report Tools for the Job: Supporting Principled Humanitarian Action, which lays a foundation for the conference. The report finds that a crisis in a geopolitically strategic area normally receives more funding for humanitarian work than a protracted crisis like the conflict in Eastern DRC.
“The international community has failed people in Eastern Congo, one of the world’s most dire and long-lasting crises. In Congo more than 2,4 million people are displaced and the needs are increasing. Despite this, the funding has decreased. Currently, only 57 per cent of the estimated need for funding has been met, resulting in no or insufficient assistance for thousands of Congolese”, says Rasmusson.
Efforts to ensure that assistance reaches people in conflict areas are further constrained by the lack of safe access for humanitarian personnel. According to the Aid Worker Security database, the number of major attacks against aid workers rose again in 2011, jeopardising the delivery of humanitarian aid to millions of people in need of relief.
In Syria, where the UN estimates that 4 million people will be in need of humanitarian assistance, only a handful of organizations have been allowed to operate, and lack access to parts of the country.
“All parties in Syria should ensure that humanitarian organisations who operate according to the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence are given access to help the Syrian population”, says Rasmusson.
Tuesday she opens the high-level conference Principles in Practice: Safeguarding Humanitarian Action in Brussels. Among the participants are European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Kristalina Georgieva, Norway´s Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer and Atta Almanan Bakhit from the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation.
For more information about the high-level conference in Brussels 4 December see: www.principlesinpractice.org. The debate is open for members of the press, and the panellists will be available for questions from journalists at 11.15 am.
The debate will also be live-streamed at 9.15 am at: http://www.principlesinpractice.org/live-streaming.
