The quest for dignity cannot be conditional......!!!

A half full glass of human rights: When dignity is conditional


The quest for dignity cannot be conditional

By Jeevan Thiyagarajah

A regular phone call with a colleague in London revealed the powerful DEC Group would not raise funds this year for SL on account of a feeling that agencies were not welcome and did not have access to operate fully. The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) was formed in 1963, and is an umbrella organisation for 13 humanitarian aid agencies.

‘We operate for whose ultimate benefit?’ Navi Pillay, at the Human Rights Council Special Session on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka: The images of terrified and emaciated women, men and children fleeing the battle zone ought to be etched in our collective memory. They must spur us into action.

The plight of those who have already reached the camps must also be addressed with urgency. These people are in desperate need of food, water, medical help and other forms of basic assistance. Severe overcrowding is creating serious problems. Malnourishment is a pressing concern. There have already been outbreaks of contagious diseases.

Such a powerful statement should lead to an unconditional humanitarian effort. It though is not unconditional. We know the IDPs need better shelter, toilets to a ratio of 1:20 and strategy which rationalises but provides those who cannot afford support for the possession of complimentary food.

The conditions are reportedly from those who provide funds. That is to say, ‘emergency aid for now, if you the government shows us donors a road map for the return of IDPs, we will provide more wholesome unconditional aid for the benefit of the IDPs.’ The quote from Navi Pillay was from the special session on SL, illustrates the battles around the world between donors and aid recipient countries. Which is where two pieces of work become important to highlight.

The work of the OECD brings together the governments of countries committed to democracy and the market economy. The organisation provides a setting where governments compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practice and coordinate domestic and international policies. The 30 member countries of OECD are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States.

OECD Guidelines for Peace and Development

We receive assistance from many OECD countries. Amongst its guidelines for peace building are many words of wisdom. Particularly of relevance to SL now is the fact that, ‘emergency relief, rehabilitation, and development operations are not necessarily sequential but are often carried out simultaneously. Failure to ensure that these operations are structured to be mutually reinforcing, however, can result in their becoming mutually undermining.’

The battle over conditionalities referred earlier is mutually undermining and must be understood by donors and international agencies!

‘Developing countries are responsible for their own development. External assistance must build on, and not substitute for national capacities, resources and initiatives. A basic principle of development co­operation is that the integration of external assistance into national efforts is the responsibility of the partner country.’ This is a reminder for our government.

Paris declaration

This is supported further by the Paris Declaration on Aid. In March 2005, senior officials from over 100 aid receiving countries and donor agencies met in Paris to take concrete steps to increase the effectiveness of aid. The concrete steps they agreed on are set out in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness: Five pillars —

Ownership: Developing countries set their own strategies for development, improve their institutions and tackle corruption.

Alignment: Donor countries bring their support in line with these objectives and use local systems.

Harmonisation: Developing countries coordinate their action, simplify procedures and share information to avoid duplication

Managing for results: Developing countries and donors focus on producing and measuring results.

Mutual Accountability: Donor and developing country partners are accountable for development results.

Making aid more effective entails challenges not only for donors, but for developing countries as well. When developing countries endorsed the Paris Declaration, they committed to improving their chances of achieving the Millennium Development goals by strengthening their own governance, accountability and transparency.

Find own funds

That is to say, donors do not develop developing countries — developing countries must develop themselves. To enable this to happen, donors and developing countries must establish genuine partnerships, in which they are jointly and mutually responsible for development results. This means making a fundamental shift in the way they do business

It does not necessarily mean many of us and in fact even colleagues from the international community remember nor use these tools in our every day interactions on aid and development.

This brings us to the last section of this column. A focus on the utility of local strengths. A UNHCR study has found:

- Knowledge of local situation: Agencies rooted in local communities have better access to information and to the local authorities than international agencies. In Pakistan when access to Afghanistan was limited, international agencies and NGOs alike relied heavily on local Afghan agencies to gain information on needs and as a channel for assistance.

- Sustainability and constituency building: Local agencies have local constituencies. Through working with local agencies, UNHCR is making a more durable contribution to the local community. Local agencies remain whereas international agencies often leave after international interest has declined.

- More cost-effective: With local agencies there are no overseas headquarters and overhead charges. Salary costs of locally-recruited staff are likely to be far lower than those brought from overseas. Local agencies can often also obtain goods and services at more advantageous rates. In Bosnia, the cost of using local agencies for community service programmes has been estimated to be a quarter of the cost using international agencies.

- Commitment: In particular where local agencies are engaged to look after related beneficiaries, they will often take greater risks to meet their needs than international agencies.

(UNHCR in SL does have close on 11 local partners.)

After a conflict of a quarter of a century, there are nationals who have the knowledge, commitment, and the capacity to lead our recovery. We must be given that opportunity. It is a right which cannot be denied. It is right for us to claim. Our right to self determination is impoverished as is our commitment to develop by the unequal opportunity afforded to us to use our skills and competence in our own country.

The quest for dignity cannot be conditional. If there are issues around human rights or on governance which bring forth notions of conditionalities, the OECD guidelines read with the Paris Principles set the ground rules to debate, interact and set the modalities to overcome. Much has been done to equalise opportunities on the way we do business between North and South, the rich and poor.

Criticised

Notwithstanding these developments organisations such as CHA are regularly criticised for helping support and empower local entities. When over 100,000 families, hundreds and scores of district based entities and organisations have been given access to resources to deal with disasters, our right to empower, use our strengths and links and power recovery is undermined.

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