southern voices

southern voices

International Development

“not a cent” of rebuilding aid for haiti had arrived from the usa…

by

Unbelievably, as of September 29th 2010, no rebuilding aid from the USA, over $1 billion, has arrived. And its down to one person in the US Senate, Tom Coburn, Think Progress reports.

“Last spring, the United States pledged nearly $1.2 billion in emergency aid to Haiti following its tragic earthquake that left hundreds of thousands of people dead and many more homeless.

Yet the Associated Press (AP) reports today that “not a cent of the $1.15 billionthe U.S. promised for rebuilding has arrived” to Haitians who badly the need the aid. This summer, both the House and the Senate passed a bill that would make $917 million available for Haiti reconstruction aid. Yet Congress must also pass an authorization bill that directs exactly how the money will be spent, and thus far, the U.S. Senate has failed to do.

The AP conducted its own investigation of why the Senate has failed to pass the authorization bill, and it discovered that a single senator “pulled it for further study.” After calling dozens of senators’ offices, the AP discovered that the senator holding up the bill is Tom Coburn (R-OK). […more…]

Pakistan, Disasters and Aid… whats the problem?

by

On 29 July floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains in north west Pakistan caused rivers to burst their banks and destroyed entire villages. The UN described the monsoon floods as the worst in living memory, while Pakistani authorities put the death toll at over 800.
On 4 August the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee launched an appeal to help people hit by the flooding.  By 6 August the UN said that at least 1,600 have been killed and 14 million people affected. (1)
Although one of worst humanitarian crises of recent years, larger scale than the 2004 tsunami or Haitian earthquake, analysis of aid given to the Pakistan flood appeals indicated that less had been donated over the first 20 days after disaster first struck than after the Haitian earthquake earlier this year, or the 2005 earthquake in Pakistani Kashmir.  On day sixteen after the tsunami, more than $1.4bn had been committed, whereas in the same time, only $200m had been pledged to Pakistan.
On 16 August the United Nations, in an emergency session, challenged the international community to increase and deliver on its aid pledges to Pakistan.  According to the UN at this point, only half of the $460m needed for initial relief efforts has been raised. (2)
Commentators have a suggested that one of the reasons for the slow response has been the nature of the disaster itself.  Relative to the Tsunami and Haiti, there has been a relatively low death rate (1600) and though the flooding has affected and displaced many more people,  the ‘shock’ factor has not been as great.  This may have meant  the perception of the seriousness of the floods has not been appreciated.  Additionally, President Asif Ali Zardari’s ill-advised visit to Europe before he had visited the flood-affected areas incensed many Pakistanis and diluted the urgency of the aid message.
The shadow of terrorism permeated discussion of the floods.  On Radio 4, the Pakistani diplomat Abdullah Hussain Haroon blamed David Cameron’s controversial comments about the country exporting terror:
“Pakistan has suffered because of what Mr Cameron has said, because the British people will listen to their Prime Minister.”
Several comment pieces, ostensibly urging people to give generously, did so on the grounds that donating will somehow prevent a suicide attack in Britain. (3)
While the slow response has been associated partly with the reasons above, its worth having a look back to 2005, when Pakistan suffered a large earthquake in Kashmir. Though the international community rallied to support the country, ‘their initial response to the disaster was condemned as slow-moving and financially inadequate’. (4)
This would suggest that Pakistan’s image abroad, associated with corruption and terrorism since the ‘9/11’ attack in America, has significantly affected the international community’s enthusiasm to support the country and its people during a time of need.
Atanu Dey, (an economist with a background) additionally remarked that since money is fungible (exchangeable), giving money to the Pakistani government for flood relief is equivalent to giving money to that government to fund cross-border terrorism or build nuclear weapons. Moreover, another argument goes, since the wishes of the Pakistani people are weakly expressed in their government’s policies, changing hearts and minds won’t make the military establishment stop terrorism directed against India. (5)
While the international politics of terrorism and the realities of aid disaster relief sit side by side, the people on ground suffer the consequences.

Written by: Deyika Nzeribe

References

1) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10986220

2) http://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/security_briefings/190810

3) http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/08/pakistan-aid-affected-war

4) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/wests-response-condemned-as-slow-and-inadequate-510461.html

5) http://www.globaldashboard.org/2010/08/20/indian-aid-to-pakistan-too-statist/

IMF’s late gift to Haiti

by

CNN International reports that in July 2010, the executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved Wednesday the cancellation of Haiti’s $268 million debt to the fund.

The board also approved a three-year request by authorities to support Haiti’s reconstruction and growth program.
The decisions are part of an effort to support Haiti’s longer-term reconstruction plans after the January 12 earthquake  http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/07/21/haiti.debt.imf/?hpt=T1#fbid=yLLYwgdwGL3&wom=false .

While this is generally considered good news, some facts:

Haiti before the earthquake

  • More than 70% of people in Haiti were living on less than $US2 per day
  • 86% of people in Port au Prince were living in slum conditions – mostly tightly-packed, poorly-built, concrete buildings.
  • 80% of education in Haiti was provided in often poor-quality private schools, the state system generally provided better education but provided far too few places
  • Half of people in Port-au-Prince had no access to latrines and only one-third has access to tap water.

The Impact of the earthquake

  • Two million people living in the most affected area
  • 220,000 dead
  • Over 180,000 homes damaged or destroyed, 1.5m homeless
  • There are now 19 million cubic metres of rubble and debris in PaP – enough to fill a line of shipping containers stretching end to end from London to Beirut.
  • One and a half million people living in camps including over 100,000 at critical risk from storms and flooding
  • There are over 1,100 camps and 54 of these are home to 5,000 people or more
  • Over 600,000 people have left their home area in Port-au-Prince and mostly are staying with host families
  • Nearly 5,000 schools have been damaged or destroyed

http://www.dec.org.uk/item/425 (July 2010)

Perhaps a speedier response from the IMF on debt and reconstruction assistance would have been more appropriate.

For a more comprehensive look at Haiti for facts figures and articles, visit the MCEER page on the subject.http://mceer.buffalo.edu/infoservice/disasters/Haiti-Earthquake-2010.asp

Written by : Deyika Nzeribe

Haitian Farmers Reject Monsanto Donation

by

The Peasant Movement of Papay, a group of Haitian farmers, has committed to burning 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn and vegetable seeds donated by Monsanto in the wake of the devastating earthquake earlier this year.

Peasant Movement of Papay leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste called Monsanto’s donation “a new earthquake” and called for a march to protest the corporation’s presence in Haiti for World Environment Day.

The National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papay sent an open letter on May 14 signed by Jean-Baptiste.  The letter called Monsanto’s presence in Haiti, “a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds…, and on what is left of our environment in Haiti.”

For more go to: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/06/haitian-farmers-burn-monsanto-hybrid-seeds/

Posted by MICHELLE GREENHALGH | JUN 07, 2010