14 million suffering children due to war in Syria and Iraq

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Around 14 million children are suffering hardship and trauma from the war in Syria and Iraq, the United Nations children’s agency said, highlighting the needs of children struggling to cope with severe violence, and the danger to the rest of the world of failing to help a generation preyed on by extremist groups.

Violence and suffering have not only scarred their past, they are shaping their futures,” said Anthony Lake UNICEF’s director. “As the crisis enters its fifth year, this generation of young people is still in danger of being lost to a cycle of violence—replicating in the next generation what they suffered in their own.”

Across Syria, an estimated 2.8 million children were still struggling to pursue some form of learning amid the rubble and destruction resulting from the conflict. In large sections of the country controlled by the Islamic State, young children are increasingly being pulled into active roles in the conflict and subjected to intense indoctrination and training in the use of weapons, said Hanaa Singer, UNICEF’s representative in Syria.

Propaganda videos distributed by the Islamic State showing children being taught to throw bombs and to place them under vehicles. “It is scary, this buildup of the killing machine,” Ms. Singer said. “Children are being indoctrinated in a very systematic way.”

“This worst humanitarian crisis of our era should be galvanizing a global outcry of support, but instead, help is dwindling,” António Guterres, head of the United Nations refugee agency, said in a statement.

UNICEF had sought about $815 million for its operations in Syria and neighboring countries in 2015, but as of early March, it had received little more than one-tenth of that amount. “We can’t give up on the people of Syria,” Ms. Singer said.

[NY Times]

The United Arab Emirates recognized as the world’s top humanitarian donor

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The United Arab Emirates has been named as the world’s top humanitarian donor of the year 2013, after it offered 5.89 Billion US dollars in foreign aid that year, reaching out in more than 140 countries around the world through 38 donor groups.

The announcement was made by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an organization dedicated to promoting policies which improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. The Committee noted in its yearly report that up to 93 percent of the UAE’s foreign aid were in the form of Official Development Assistance (ODA), making 1.33 percent of the country’s Gross National Income.

The more than 140 countries benefitting from the UAE’s foreign aid disbursements in 2013 included developing nations in Africa, and countries in the Middle East and North Africa region that have been strongly affected by turmoil in the past few years, including Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Jordan, the occupied Palestinian territories and Lebanon.

The UAE is home to the International Humanitarian City (IHC), a Dubai-based logistics centre for the distribution of humanitarian aid which hosts more than 50 non-governmental organizations and commercial entities, among them the Global Logistics Service of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, who are all involved in the delivery of aid during crises and for long-term development purposes.

[ifrc.org]

Denmark provides $2.3 million for humanitarian needs in Sudan

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The government of Denmark has contributed $2.3 million to the Sudan Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) for 2015, following its contribution of $22.7 million since 2008 to help address growing humanitarian needs in Sudan.

The United Nations office of the resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan said, in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, the Danish contribution comes at a critical time when funding for humanitarian action is scarce and humanitarian needs are growing.

The statement quoted the Danish minister for trade and development cooperation, Mogens Jensen, as saying the “humanitarian situation in Sudan remains extremely serious and is worsening in some areas”. Jensen added that the continued unrest in parts of Darfur, Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile still generates severe displacement of civilians, who will need assistance and protection. Sudan has received more than 120,000 refugees fleeing from the ongoing violence in South Sudan.

Adnan Khan, the UN acting humanitarian coordinator said that Denmark’s timely contribution to CHF is greatly appreciated as it will help ensure that humanitarian assistance continues to reach the most vulnerable communities, pointing that CHF funds will be used to support top and high priority humanitarian interventions across Sudan.

Last year, the Sudan CHF received support from Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (UK).

Crisis of anxiety among aid workers

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According to a 2013 study commissioned by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 47 percent of its staff members who were surveyed indicated having had sleep problems in the previous month. And 57 percent had recently experienced symptoms consistent with depression. Rates of clinical depression among aid workers are double those of American adults. One cites “adult trauma exposure” as a main cause.

Yet mental health support for the estimated 250,000 humanitarian workers in the trenches is woefully lacking. The 2013 report recommends that the organization “provide and promote the option for staff to utilize external mental health therapists” and “disseminate information on what is covered by insurance for outside therapeutic support.” It also recommends more than 20 other measures to help aid workers.

While the management formally approved all but one of these recommendations, nearly two years later many of them remain unfulfilled. One recommendation that has been implemented — that aid workers going to the hardest places, to the Afghanistans, Iraqs and Syrias, will be contacted by an in-house counselor before and after their mission for an optional mental health check-in — is not happening systematically.

Yet the United Nations refugee agency is better than most, according to Kaz de Jong, head of staff care for the Netherlands division of Doctors Without Borders. His is one of the rare aid organizations known for doing a good job on this front. “At least they’re doing something,” he says, referring to the 2013 report. “Many do nothing at all.”

He’s right. A 2009 survey of 20 aid organizations found that many staff-care programs fail to adhere to basic standards. Little has improved since. What progress has been made often remains at the headquarter level, far from the shelling and violent stories that aid workers regularly face on the front lines.

[New York Times]

$121 Billion of U.S. foreign aid to Israel

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The recent visit of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress has opened up a rare split in the relations between the United States and Israel. On its surface, the issue appears to be purely political: Netanyahu was invited by House Speaker John Boehner without consultation of the White House, an apparent violation of protocol.

Still, if the past is any judge, U.S.-Israel relations will recover. Since it was founded in 1948, Israel has become the largest single recipient of U.S foreign assistance — a total of $121 billion, almost all of which has been in the form of military assistance. Among the findings of a 2014 report by the Congressional Research Service:

  • This FY2015 foreign military financing (FMF) level would constitute roughly 55% of the United States’ total FMF funding worldwide and would finance 23% to 25% of the overall Israeli defense budget — percentages that clearly demonstrate the U.S. commitment to Israeli security and Israel’s dependence on U.S. support.
  • In addition to $3.1 billion in FY2015 funding, the Obama Administration also requested $96.8 million for joint US-Israeli programs and $175.9 million for Iron Dome, Israel’s short-range anti-rocket system.
  • The U.S. Defense Department also stores military supplies on Israeli bases in preparation for combat, and if needed, Israeli forces can request use of these supplies from the U.S. government in times of emergency, as happened in the 2006 conflict with Hezbollah. The value of the U.S. materiel stored in Israel increased to $800 million in 2010, with Congressional approval for up to $1.2 billion.

[Read full article at Journalist Resource] 

Greg Matthews “that sense that I belong here”

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As a senior adviser for the International Rescue Committee, Greg Matthews rushes to disasters for a living.

He has helped refugees fleeing violence in Syria and Iraq, designing programs using a mix of traditional relief supplies, such as food and hygiene kits, with cash grants, job training, and placement and business start-up assistance.

Two things inspired Greg Matthews while growing up in Hartford, Conn. A 10th-grade social studies teacher got him thinking about international problems and the challenge of fixing them. And one day, when Matthews was giving swimming lessons, a student mentioned his father was leaving for Turkey for search-and-rescue work after an earthquake.

“I thought, ‘Wow, that’s really cool,'” Matthews recalls.

Greg Matthews in Senegal, W. Africa

Even after marriage and the birth of a child, the seductive pull to international relief work remains. “It’s that sense that I belong there. This is what I’m good at. I can do this,” he says. “Every time I turn on the news and I hear that there’s a major disaster, (an) emergency breaking out somewhere across the world, I definitely get that adrenalin rush and my body starts kind of shaking a little bit.”

It’s quickly followed by a sense of dread, Matthews says. He wishes these terrible crises never happened at all.

[USA Today]

Canadian humanitarian worker held in North Korea?

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Sometime in the last two days of January, Hyeon-soo Lim crossed the land border from China into the north-eastern corner of North Korea. This was nothing particularly special for Mr. Lim, the senior pastor of one of Canada’s largest Korean churches. He had been to the Hermit Kingdom more than 100 times before.

He was expected to call home on Feb. 4. When he did not, the church initially did not panic. But more than a month has passed with no word, and his church is worried Mr. Lim has been detained in a country that has jailed several foreign Christians in recent years.

“He’s not a tourist that wandered off. He knows the language, he knows how to behave in a way that’s not offensive to the government.”

Lim’s church raised funds for the impoverished country, and supports orphanages, nurseries and a nursing home. Mr. Lim would often take in vitamins, medical supplies and warm clothing.

[Toronto Globe and Mail]

Sonia Khush “driven by ending human suffering”

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When humanitarian assistance pays off, dangerous risks are easier to take on, says Sonia Khush, a senior director for humanitarian response for Washington-based Save the Children. She cites Save the Children programs that allowed displaced Syrian children living in tents to return to classes or play in a new gymnasium.

“I go ahead because through all these emergencies, I’ve been able to see what a positive impact our programs have on children,” Khush says. “That’s very rewarding. I usually end up being willing to take the chance and go. But …there are probably places where I wouldn’t want to go.”

Khush, who recently returned from Liberia, has also spent time in Jordan and Lebanon working with Syrian refugees.

“You have to see what the needs of the people are and what you can deliver,” she says. “You have to think on your feet very quickly and, for me, I just enjoy that pace of work. We’re really driven by ending human suffering.”

It’s also necessary to pace the work, she says. Save the Children cycles workers out of troubled areas every six weeks.

Khush, who is single, says when someone doing the same work is kidnapped, “you keep thinking, ‘OK, I’m doing everything I possibly can to be safe.’ I know there’s a known element of risk. But I’m here for a reason.”

[USA Today]

Loss of US aid to Palestine over Israel

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On January 6, less than a week after Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas signed the treaty to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon announced the PA will become a member of the international tribunal on April 1. (As a member, the PA would be able to prosecute Israel for allegedly committing “war crimes”, such as Israel’s actions in Gaza this past summer.)

Ban’s announcement drew heat from the US Congress, and Kentucky senator Rand Paul introduced the “Defend Israel by Defunding Palestinian Foreign Aid Act of 2015,” which would halt aid to the Palestinian Authority until it withdraws its attempt at becoming a member of the court.

South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham suggested that US law demands an end to funding if the PA brings a case against Israel, citing the Appropriations Act of 2015, which states that funding the PA must be suspended if “the Palestinians initiate an International Criminal Court judicially authorized investigation, or actively support such an investigation, that subjects Israeli nationals to an investigation for alleged crimes against Palestinians.”

[The Weekly Standard]

If delivering humanitarian aid was easy, everybody would do it

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There is a dizzying complexity to shaping a humanitarian response that is irresistible to American aid doctor Pranav Shetty, who lives with his wife, Nora, in Arlington, Va.

Pranav Shetty (center) briefs US Ambassador Samantha Power in Liberia

When he trained health care workers and treated patients at the height of the Ebola epidemic last August in Liberia, the local hospital system was in shambles.

He organized the delivery of medical supplies in northern Iraq after attacks by the Islamic State left areas isolated. At the time, refugees from the overrun city of Mosul were flooding into the area. His work brought him as close as a mile from an Islamic State checkpoint.

“Everybody wants to have an impact on the world,” says Shetty. “The greatest impact is not to go to the places everybody goes to. The greatest impact is to help the people that nobody wants to help.”

His wife, who also did humanitarian work, said she occasionally tries nudging him toward the lesser of two dangerous destinations. Nora Shetty successfully lobbied him to fight a deadly virus. “With Ebola, you have a bit more ability to protect your own safety,” she reasons.

She describes her husband, among the first people the International Medical Corps sends to crises, as someone who disdains complacency and is committed to always improving his disaster-relief skills.

“You want to be challenged,” he explains. “You don’t want the same thing every day. If it was easy, everybody would do it.”

[USA Today]