Trods talrige forsøg på at effektivisere den globale humanitære bistand mod massesult og andre katastrofer, er der sket alt for lidt. Det koster titusinder livet hvert år, senest på Afrikas Horn.
Det konkluderer det seneste Humanitære Årsindeks – Humanitarian Response Index (HRI) -, der kom ud onsdag og som er indsamlet og udgivet af DARA, en international non-profit organisation med hovedsæde i Spanien.
De lovede reformer og den bedre koordination slæber sig afsted uden større fremdrift, nødhjælpen tager normalt ingen særlige hensyn til kvinder, den politiseres alt for ofte, kommer for det meste for sent og hele indsatsen er svært gennemskuelig,
Dertil kommer, at verdens støste donor af humanitær bistand, USA, ligger i bunden på de fleste parametre, når kvaliteten af bistanden måles. Danmark ligger i top, men er dog faldet fra første- til andenpladsen i indekset.
GENEVA, 7. March, 2012: While international aid and the ability to deliver to populations in need has improved over time, substantial barriers remain to providing the most needed relief to victims of natural disasters and conflicts, as well as helping them to become less vulnerable to future threats.
These are major findings of the 2011 Humanitarian Response Index (HRI), released Wednesday by DARA.
Based on an analysis of the work of 23 donor governments over nine major crises, the Index rates each individual country along five categories, then presents an overall ranking and donor classification (see below).
The UN’s appeal for 8,9 billion US dollar in 2011 to assist some 50 million people facing crises was only covered by 62 per cent, resulting in huge gaps in the response, particularly in helping people recover from crisis situations.
Sådan burde god humanitær bistand være
DARA’s report notes that a good humanitarian donor government not only responds to urgent needs, but also focuses on prevention (forebyggelse) as well as on sustainable recovery, practices risk reduction, is willing and able to work with humanitarian partners, facilitates (sørger for) protection of civilians and respects international law, and holds a commitment to learning and accountability.
Observes Philip Tamminga, head of the HRI project: “Without all of these in place, even the best intentions of any government can result in ineffective, inappropriate (dårlig anpasset) aid that does not meet the needs of people who need it most.”
In 2003, donors gathered in Stockholm, Sweden, to draft and endorse the Good humanitarian donorship (GHD) principles to improve co-ordination among donors, make funding more reliable and predictable, and help humanitarian organisations better prepare for crises.
But Philip Tamminga says the GHD’s lack of clear, measurable targets and indicators, as with the millennium development goals (2015 Målene), has meant there have been few tools to assess progress and hold governments to account.
Meanwhile, donors have been able to apply different interpretations of the GHD principles and implement different requirements, approaches and levels of funding.
Den danske indsats
A case in point is Denmark, which ranks number 2.
While Denmark excels providing aid in a neutral, impartial and independent manner, and in line with needs, it could improve its support for prevention, preparedness and risk reduction – se mere på http://daraint.org/humanitarian-response-index/humanitarian-response-index-2011/donor-assessments/denmark
While the index placed Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland and the Netherlands at the top of the rankings, no country demonstrated excellence in all areas, with the result that the collective impact is less than it could be.
According to the research findings, over the past five years little progress has been made in reforming either the practices of individual countries or the humanitarian response system as a whole.
“The result is not only an inefficient use of resources. Lives are being lost that could have been saved”, says Tamminga.
Alle svaghederne
The study identified five crucial areas of weakness:
• A reactive, rather than proactive (udfarende) approach – experts estimate that 100.000 or more people, nearly half of them children, died unnecessarily during the famine in the Horn of Africa due to a lack of prevention and preparedness.
• A low priority for gender issues – ignoring that the needs of women, girls, men and boys are vastly different has consequences which range from culturally inappropriate hygiene kits in Pakistan and Bangladesh, to latrines for women in camps with insufficient lighting and security in Haiti and the DR Congo.
• Inadequate reform agenda – too slow to meet the increasing humanitarian aid burden.
• Minimal donor transparency and accountability (stå til ansvar) – neither decision-making nor allocations are as transparent as they should be in many crises.
• Politicization of aid – security, economic and military agendas take precedence over humanitarian needs in crises such as Somalia, the occupied Palestinian territories and Colombia, hampering aid delivery.
DARA’S 2011 HRI RANKING
Læs videre på
http://daraint.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/DENMARK_DARAS-Humanitarian-Response-Index_Press_Release.pdf
Man kan få et overblik på
Man kan finde et resume af rapporten på
http://daraint.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/HRI2011execsummary.pdf
Man kan downloade hele rapporten (på 340 sider) fra
http://daraint.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/HRI_2011_Complete_Report.pdf
Ross Mountain og Ditlev Monrad
DARAs generaldirektør siden januar 2010 hedder Ross Mountain. Han er FN-veteran i topklassen og kom til DARA efter over 36 års FN-virke og mange store poster, senest som chef i DR Congo for en af de største FN-operationer nogensinde.
Den 67-årige new zealænder er en god ven af Danmark. Ikke så mærke-ligt, for han er tip-tip oldebarn af den danske kirkemand og politiker, Ditlev G. Monrad (1811-1887), en af 1800-tallets mest omstridte skikkelser herhjemme.
I forhandlingerne frem til grundloven i 1849 trådte D. G. Monrad stærkt frem, og havde det stået til ham alene, ville grundloven have fået et yderligere demokratisk præg. Det var Monrad, der skrev det første udkast til Junigrundloven, og han kaldes derfor for grundlovens fader.
Han udvandrede til det fjerne New Zealand efter nederlaget til Bismarcks Preussen i 1864 og det traumatiske tab af hele Sønderjylland. Han var på dette tidspunkt konseilspræsident (statsminister) og fik en stor del af skylden for de fejlslagne politiske forhandlinger (London-konferencen) efter krigen.
Således medvirkede han til at forkaste et britisk forslag om deling af Slesvig ved en linie syd for Flensborg til Tønder, selv om konferencens øvrige deltagere, inklusive Preussen og Østrig, angiveligt var stemt for denne løsning af det slesvigske spørgsmål.
Monrad kom hjem til Danmark allerede i 1869 og blev to år senere biskop i Maribo. Sønnerne Viggo og Johannes blev derude som nybyggere på nordøen i tilknytning til den danske koloni Dannevirke. Ross Mountain har Monrad som et af sine mellemnavne.
Man kan læse om Ross Mountain på http://daraint.org/about-us/staff og http://www.ifrc.org/en/get-involved/learning/red-talk/events-archive/14-july-2011—ross-mountain
Yderligere oplysninger om indekset hos:
Nicolai Steen, Head of Disaster Risk Reduction Initiative
Senior Evaluator
E-mail: [email protected]
Tlf. +34 91 531 03 72 og mobil +34 687 909 292
web: www.daraint.org
Calle Felipe IV,9
28014 Madrid
