Sri Lanka needs humanitarian aid

By Oscar E. V. Fernando
Family members and neighbours help each other in times of crises; so it is in the case of the world family - although some in this part of the world don’t seem to understand such sentiments of the world family; as such they brand those volunteering to assist as do-gooders!

Capitalism - meaning private sector oriented economies and what is left of communism - meaning state enterprise oriented economies are two major divisions in the world; most humanitarian agencies are from the capitalist side of the world; hence is the criticism of the capitalist sector by the communist sector (the twain shall never meet), with no alternative offer but a revolutionary change in society advocated by the communist world - to them all in the present system is anathema till this is achieved!

Many don’t seem to understand that the Sri Lankan nation is in crisis with borrowed capital even to pay interest on interest due and that the nation needs humanitarian aid together with economic aid; long years of living with subsidies and free rice have dulled such sensitivities.

Coming from Suddhas, a loathsome term still used to describe colonial nations that once dominated the country - some Sri Lankans resist their assistance.

Incidentally, this shortsighted wallowing in the past is peculiar to Sri Lanka when compared to other past foreign dominated countries that have ‘forgiven’ the Suddhas for their colonial transgressions and have now moved far - far ahead of this country!

Humanitarian Aid (HA) is provided by these capitalist countries for humanitarian purposes especially in human crises; the primary objective being to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain human dignity; the objective of economic aid is to revive the economy; regarding both these objectives the communist world has differing views, but offers no alternative but to revolutionise the existing society by words and words if not with weapons!.

But many communist oriented countries had turned to the so called capitalist - country aid to revive their economies and in fact have revived by leaps and bounds - India once leaning on Russia and, China a completely communist country are very good examples where they had accepted this capitalistic aid, revived their economies and brought about a higher standard of living to their peoples - who no more wallow in a past!

This is not by any means denying the minus points in both capitalist and communist systems; however, the latter by and large had failed the world - although the die-hards are trying their best to prop it up!

Perhaps Cuba and North Korea are the only countries still in the limelight of the communist movement!

HA is delivered by governmental agencies, non-governmental organisations and other non-governmental humanitarian agencies that have their own norms of conduct, subjectivity to their own governmental regulations and saddled with their own human limitations in volunteering to alleviate sufferings of those facing disaster.

HA arises from a resolution by the United Nations, the apex body that represents most nations, to give relief to nations in distress.

The aid is funded by the respective countries at the expense of their citizens who would have otherwise continued to enjoy the consequences of such wealth; these funding agencies - the so-called ‘do-gooders’ are internationally organised to meet emergency situations - such as tsunamis at the shortest possible time.

When humanitarian agencies are harassed or when their aid is unwelcome by certain elements, it is these citizen-sacrifices donated towards the distress that they are spiting - a most uncharitable deed to say the least - least of all not warranted by a country that has to stretch out its begging bowl to get past annual budgetary deficits!

Due to such hostilities and the nature of the service under emergency conditions, each organisation has its own rules with regard to safety of aid workers - nevertheless dangers are inherent and workers, some of them volunteers, risk their lives to help those in distress.

A core principle of humanity expounded by the United Nations (not necessarily the opinion of just one country) is that humankind is treated humanely and with dignity - this means saving lives and alleviating sufferings while at the same time respecting the individual; they believe that the international community or internationals, meaning the rest of the world that witnesses the suffering of say one nation, is obliged to give humanitarian assistance wherever and whenever it is needed.

These agencies are not expected to base assistance on nationality, race, religion or political affiliations but on needs alone, on the principle of impartiality they strive to follow as human beings - but;

Depending on local conditions of the country they serve in, where some parts of the community, as in Sri Lanka, are hostile towards some of them, or where one of any contending parties is in obvious violation of a UN charter, impartiality may stand a difficult test!

Generally, Humanitarian Agencies formulate their own policies independent of government policies; the predicament of some NGOs must be understood when they have to depend on their governments for funding.

It is a clear humanitarian principle neither to exploit the vulnerability of victims nor to further political or religious creeds.

If a warring party within the nation believes, for example, that an agency is favouring the other side, or that it is an agent of the enemy, access to the victims may be blocked and the lives of humanitarian workers may be put in danger. Also, if one of the parties perceives that an agency is trying to spread another religious faith, there may be a hostile reaction to their activities.

All these rules, regulations and norms of conduct go to show how carefully agencies must act and how vulnerable they are to various criticisms; they are expected to walk the tight rope as humanly as is possible - although they come to assist those in distress!

There are therefore rights and duties cast on both sides of the divide - those on the side of agencies as well as those that are critics within countries with disaster victims.

Reportedly in Sri Lanka, there seems to be a concerted effort to bring discredit to humanitarian organisations by accusing them to be supporters of a terror group. This is a cause for concern as some of these agencies have had a record of service to the war and disaster affected areas especially in the north and east.

Agencies such as UNESCO, Berghof Foundation, UNICEF, SCSL (Save the Children in Sri Lanka) that have come over to give humanitarian assistance in trying circumstances have come under severe attack by various sources in Sri Lanka - especially initiated by those opposed to democratic/capitalist countries from which these institutions originate; reportedly their smooth work has been disturbed by continuously harassing investigations.

Various charges are leveled against them for their global funding activities; some of these charges and also charges of proselytising by some other agencies must certainly be impartially investigated, but what is needed under the circumstances is;

For the Sri Lanka government to strengthen and broaden its monitoring mechanisms and make its NGO Secretariat more effective with an advisory board consisting of civil society groups assisting in their evaluations in monitoring; as well as making a thorough scrutiny of the credentials of each agency, case by case, before they are allowed to operate in the country.

Those in charge of this scrutiny must ensure that minor criticisms are not politicised; also there should be continued vigilance over their activities; genuine agencies should welcome such a move if this is done impartially and with no prejudice!

It will however be usual for certain radical elements to criticise all monitoring missions especially if they originate from politically opposed countries - to the very detriment of peace in Sri Lanka!

Burning effigies of foreign officials from capitalist countries and hounding out ambassadors from western countries for statements made, not only smack of pure rhetoric but also - stand tall as political maneuvers; these would not contribute in any way to alleviate the sufferings of the southern proletariat!!