NGOs Report Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6814729,00.html
By THOMAS WAGNER Associated Press Writer
LONDON (AP) – About 8 million Iraqis – nearly a third of the population – need immediate emergency aid because of the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, relief agencies said Monday.
Those Iraqis are in urgent need of water, sanitation, food and shelter, said the report by Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee network in Iraq.
The report said 15 percent of Iraqis cannot regularly afford to eat, and 70 percent are without adequate water supplies, up from 50 percent in 2003. It also said 28 percent of children are malnourished, compared with 19 percent before the 2003 invasion.
“Basic services, ruined by years of war and sanctions, cannot meet the needs of the Iraqi people,” said Jeremy Hobbs, the director of Oxfam International. “Millions of Iraqis have been forced to flee the violence, either to another part of Iraq or abroad. Many of those are living in dire poverty.”
The report said more than 2 million people – mostly women and children – have been displaced within Iraq, and 2 million Iraqis have fled the country as refugees, mostly to neighboring Syria and Jordan.
Hobbs urged Iraq’s government, the United Nations and the international community to do more to help Iraqis, despite the risk of the war’s widespread violence involving coalition forces and insurgents.
“The Iraqi government must commit to helping Iraq’s poorest citizens, including the internally displaced, by extending food parcel distribution and cash payments to the vulnerable. Western donors must work through Iraqi and international aid organizations and develop more flexible systems to ensure these organizations operate effectively and efficiently,” Hobbs said.
Oxfam has not operated in Iraq since 2003 for security reasons, but a survey it published in April found that more than 80 percent of aid agencies working in the country could do more if they had more money.
Some humanitarian organizations refuse money from governments with troops in Iraq, on the grounds of security and independence.
“The fighting and weak Iraqi institutions mean there are severe limits on what humanitarian work can be carried out. Nevertheless, more can and should be done to help the Iraqi people,” Hobbs said.
————————————————————————————————-
NCCI & Oxfam – Rising to the Humanitarian Challenge in Iraq – 30Jul07
http://www.ncciraq.org/spip.php?article1891
Executive summary
While horrific violence dominates the lives of millions of ordinary people inside Iraq, another kind of crisis, also due to the impact of war, has been slowly unfolding. Up to eight million people are now in need of emergency assistance. This figure includes:
• four million people who are ‘food-insecure and in dire need of different types of humanitarian assistance’
• more than two million displaced people inside Iraq
• over two million Iraqis in neighbouring countries, mainly Syria and Jordan, making this the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world.
This paper describes the humanitarian situation facing ordinary Iraqis and argues that, while violence and a failure to protect fundamental human rights pose the greatest problems, humanitarian needs such as food, shelter, water and sanitation must be given more attention. Although responding to those needs is extremely challenging, given the lack of security and of competent national institutions, Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI) believe that more could be done. The government of Iraq could extend the distribution of food parcels, widen the coverage of emergency cash payments, decentralise decision-making and support civil society groups providing assistance. The international donors and UN agencies could intensify their efforts to coordinate, fund and deliver emergency aid. These measures will not transform the plight of Iraqis but they can help alleviate their suffering. The paper focuses on needs inside the country, which are less visible, and does not refer in detail to the refugees in neighbouring countries.
******************
Iraqis are suffering from a growing lack of food, shelter, water and sanitation, health care, education, and employment. Of the four million Iraqis who are dependent on food assistance, only 60 per cent currently have access to rations through the government-run Public Distribution System (PDS), down from 96 per cent in 2004.
Forty-three per cent of Iraqis suffer from ‘absolute poverty’. According to some estimates, over half the population are now without work. Children are hit the hardest by the decline in living standards. Child malnutrition rates have risen from 19 per cent before the US-led invasion in 2003 to 28 per cent now.
The situation is particularly hard for families driven from their homes by violence. The two million internally displaced people (IDPs) have no incomes to rely on and are running out of coping mechanisms. In 2006, 32 per cent of IDPs had no access to PDS food rations, while 51 per cent reported receiving food rations only sometimes.
The number of Iraqis without access to adequate water supplies has risen from 50 per cent to 70 per cent since 2003, while 80 per cent lack effective sanitation. The ‘brain drain’ that Iraq is experiencing is further stretching already inadequate public services, as thousands of medical staff, teachers, water engineers, and other professionals are forced to leave the country. At the end of 2006, perhaps 40 per cent had left already.
The people of Iraq have a right, enshrined in international law, to material assistance that meets their humanitarian needs, and to protection, but this right is being neglected. The government of Iraq, international donors, and the United Nations (UN) system have been focused on reconstruction, development, and building political institutions, and have overlooked the harsh daily struggle for survival now faced by many. All these actors have a moral, political, and in the case of the government, legal obligation to protect ordinary Iraqis caught up in the conflict. They also have a responsibility to find ways to secure the right conditions for the delivery of assistance, both where conflict is intense and in less insecure parts of the country to which many people have fled.
The primary duty-bearer for the provision of basic services remains the national government, which must work to overcome the extensive obstacles that hamper its operations at central and local level. Oxfam and the NCCI believe that political will must be found to improve the emergency support system for the poorest citizens, including the internally displaced. The government should start with the decentralisation of the delivery of assistance. This would include giving power to local authorities to quality-check and distribute emergency supplies within their own governorates, together with a more extensive system of warehouse storage for supplies throughout Iraq. Establishing a proper legal framework for civil-society organisations would greatly assist non-government relief efforts by giving them the legal authority to operate in Iraq.
The expansion of the PDS for foodstuffs, including the establishment of a temporary PDS identity-card system for IDPs, is also priority. As is the extension of the programme of emergency cash allowances to households headed by widows, which should be increased from $100 per month so that it is closer to the average monthly wage of $200, and expanded to include other vulnerable groups. A $200 monthly payment to 1 million households, would cost $2.4bn per year, which is within the country’s financial capacity. Foreign governments with capacity and influence in Iraq, including the USA and the UK, must provide advice and technical assistance to Iraqi government ministries to implement these policies and supply basic services, The main challenges both to the livelihoods of Iraqis and to the delivery of humanitarian assistance are the ongoing violence and insecurity. Political solutions to the conflict must be found as soon as possible, but in the meantime all armed groups, including the Iraqi security forces, the Multi-National Force in Iraq (MNF-I), local militia, and insurgents, should not harm civilian life, property, or infrastructure, and should respect the population’s right to assistance, in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law.
Whilst indiscriminate, and often targeted, violence has greatly reduced the capacity of Iraqi civil-society organisations and NGOs, international NGOs (INGOs), the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement, and UN agencies to access the needy civilian population, this has not prevented many of these organisations from working with Iraqi communities to find creative ways to adapt to the constraints and continue to maintain a presence in Iraq.
An NGO (anonymous for security reasons) supported by Oxfam is providing emergency assistance to hospitals and clinics in conflict areas. It has carried out distributions of essential medical supplies to 40 health centres located in six governorates, to sustain the delivery of health services during conflicts. It also reinforces capacity in potential ‘hot spots’ through the pre-positioning of emergency supplies. Essential health care has been provided to over 100,000 patients.
There are 80 independent INGOs still engaged with Iraq, including NCCI members, and 45 of these have existing or potential emergency response programmes. Some have national staff running offices inside the country, with management based in a different country, commonly Jordan. Others fund and advise autonomous local Iraqi NGOs. These methods of working in highly insecure environments are often known as ‘remote programming’. By adopting such approaches, NGOs are the main implementers of UN and other humanitarian programmes inside Iraq.
An NGO (anonymous for security reasons), supported by Oxfam, is supplying food and water to IDPs fleeing from Qa’im, Haditha, Rawa, Heet, Ramadi, and Fallujah. It also works in co-operation with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on IDP monitoring and the provision of emergency supplies. In addition, it implements an income-generation project for IDPs from Fallujah, carries out water drilling for IDPs and host communities in Ana and Heet, and has a school rehabilitation project in Fallujah. This NGO reports that lack of funding is a limitation that has prevented it from expanding its activities and reaching a wider range of beneficiaries.
Islamic and regional organisations are active in humanitarian response. Islamic Relief and Muslim Aid provide financial and technical support, focusing on humanitarian aid and orphan-care programmes, while the Qatari Red Crescent funds Iraqi NGOs and the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS). The Khomeni Foundation has been providing basic hygiene kits, blankets, and food to IDPs in the south of the country. Islamic political parties and religious organisations, including mosques, also respond to the survival needs of their constituencies.
International donors have been slow to recognise the scale of humanitarian needs. Development aid from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) donors increased by 922 per cent between 2003 and 2005 to $20,948m, whereas funding for humanitarian assistance fell by 47 per cent during the same period to $453m. Results from a recent Oxfam survey of donors show that 2006 funding for humanitarian assistance fell alarmingly to $95m despite the evident increase in need. The total is not complete as only 19 of the 22 Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors were willing to provide data for the survey. However, eight of the top ten donors for humanitarian assistance to Iraq in 2005, including the US and the UK, did respond. Many humanitarian organisations will not accept money from governments that have troops in Iraq, as this could jeopardise their own security and independence. So it is particularly important that donors from countries which do not have troops there, such as Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland, agree to increase their budgets for humanitarian action in Iraq.
Donors and the UN have also not commonly appreciated the potential that exists to fund work inside Iraq, especially if there were greater willingness to support operations that do not involve all the conventional forms of delivery, monitoring and evaluation, and which may be costlier, yet which offer reasonable guarantees that money is well spent.
According to a survey of NGOs/INGOs conducted by Oxfam in April 2007, over 80 per cent could expand humanitarian work if they had increased access to funds. Both the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the IRCS have recently launched appeals for their substantial programmes in Iraq, which are yet to be fully funded.
The UN, especially the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), has a vital role to play in the provision of humanitarian assistance, through co-ordinating needs-assessment and delivery, advising the government, mobilising resources, and advocating for enhanced civilian protection. To date, the UN’s performance has been limited, not least by the tight security it has imposed on its staff following the loss of 22 employees in the 2003 bombing of the Canal Hotel. Nevertheless, there are welcome signs that the UN may be becoming more active. The publication in April 2007 of a ‘strategic framework’ for a co-ordinated humanitarian response in Iraq is a step in the right direction, as is the decision of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in July 2007 to ask donors to double its budget for work with Iraqi refugees and the internally displaced to $123m.
Conclusion and policy recommendations
Bringing an end to war and civil strife in Iraq must be the overriding priority for the national government and the international community. However, the government, the countries of the MNF-I, the UN agencies, and international donors can do more to meet the other survival needs of the Iraqi population, despite the challenging environment.
The government of Iraq should take urgent action to address the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people. Measures should include:
• Local authorities should assume greater responsibility for providing assistance, shelter, and essential services to displaced people, as well as to vulnerable local populations, and should be given the power and resources by central government to do so.
• The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs should increase the $100 per month payment to households headed by widows so that it is closer to the average monthly wage of $200, and expand the range of recipients to include other vulnerable groups, such as the displaced population.
• The Ministry of Trade should improve the Public Distribution System (PDS). This should include the establishment of a temporary PDS identity card system so that displaced people can receive food rations.
• The government should create a cross-ministerial team to co-ordinate its humanitarian response and should release funds at its disposal for delivery of this response.
• Explicit orders should be given to the Iraqi security forces that they, like all armed groups, should not harm civilian life, property, or infrastructure, and should respect the population’s right to assistance.
• The government of Iraq should support national NGOs through a legal framework, including registration procedures that recognise their rights and independence and secure their legal authority to operate in Iraq.
International governments with capacity and influence in Iraq should recognise their responsibilities towards the people of Iraq by:
• Supporting Iraqi ministries through advice and technical assistance in order to ensure their capacity to provide basic services, notably improved food distribution, shelter, and the extension of welfare payments.
The governments of the Multi-National Force in Iraq (MNF-I) should recognise their particular responsibilities towards the people of Iraq by:
• Ensuring that the armed forces respect their moral and legal obligation not to harm civilians or their property, or essential infrastructure.
Donors need to increase support to national and international NGOs, the ICRC, the IRCS, and UN agencies delivering the humanitarian response:
• Donors should provide increased emergency funding that is readily accessible and flexible. In particular, donors must build on discussions under way with NGOs to better understand ‘remote programming’ and mechanisms for monitoring and verification.
• Since many humanitarian organisations will not accept money from governments engaged in the conflict, it is important that donors from other countries, such as Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland, increase their funding for humanitarian action.
The UN, especially UNAMI and OCHA, needs to continue to strengthen its humanitarian role inside Iraq by:
• Working towards the achievement of a co-ordinated response with the government of Iraq and NGOs, and between UN agencies.
• Developing a more nuanced approach to the movement of UN staff that differentiates between constraints in different areas and which is more independent of the MNF-I, thereby allowing better needs assessment, co-ordination, and service delivery.
• Building on the emergency field co-ordination structure established by the NCCI to enable rapid response to identified needs.
• Administering a new pooled fund for rapid response that should be able to disburse monies to NGOs.