Ayuda humanitaria

Palestinian children waiting for food in Rafah, Gaza Strip, February 2024. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa / Reuters

According to assessments by the Famine Review Committee, the gold-standard international body that analyzes famine risk, the Gaza Strip now stands on the brink of famine. On February 27, senior UN officials warned the UN Security Council that famine is now imminent in Gaza. If famine takes hold, the number of Gazans who die of hunger or disease could outstrip the Israel-Hamas war’s already breathtaking number of civilian deaths. It is still possible to prevent a famine. But the window for action is rapidly narrowing. Unless the fighting stops and Israel halts the siege tactics that are preventing a large-scale relief operation, aid agencies will be unable to avert a full-blown famine and the death toll that comes with it.…  Seguir leyendo »

Refugees fleeing the conflict in Sudan queue with their jerrycans to queue to collect drinking water from the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) distribution point at the Ourang refugee camp in Adre on Dec. 7, 2023. Denis Sassou Gueipeur / AFP

With more than 12,000 killed and 7.3 million people displaced, ongoing warfare in Sudan has steadily broken down the country’s political, social, and medical services. Reports suggest more than 24 million of the country’s 46 million people need assistance; cholera cases had risen to over 8,200 by late December; and between 70 percent and 80 percent of hospitals in affected states have been left nonfunctional.

As violence and displacement counts rise, humanitarian aid efforts haven’t kept up. Instead, initiatives to negotiate between the warring powers—the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemeti” Dagalo—have been the priority for the international community, neglecting the suffering that ordinary Sudanese citizens have endured for the last nine months.…  Seguir leyendo »

The funeral of Ukrainian soldier Vadym ‘Gagarin’ Belov in Polonne, Ukraine, on 13 September 2023. Photograph: Alex Babenko/AP

Recently, Michael Kofman, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and one of the foremost analysts of the war in Ukraine, urged that the west “plan for the long war”. He was talking about the military challenges facing the country: ammunition, air defence, key enablers and scaling up training.

Kofman is right – the massive scale of the operation ahead cannot be overestimated. A recent trip I made to Kyiv confirms the extraordinary bravery, resilience and commitment of the Ukrainian population. But it also laid bare the civilian cost of the war, visible and invisible. With no end to the war in sight, civilian and humanitarian needs must be planned for, not just military ones.…  Seguir leyendo »

Des secouristes transportent une femme blessée par une réplique, dans la ville d'Imi N'tala, à l'extérieur de Marrakech, au Maroc, mercredi 13 septembre 2023. — © MOSA'AB ELSHAMY / AP

Pendant que la France se vexe, prenant mal le silence du Maroc face à sa proposition d’aide après le terrible tremblement de terre qu’ont vécu Marrakech et sa région, d’autres pays comme l’Espagne, les Emirats arabes unis ou le Qatar ont déjà pu accéder aux zones sinistrées pour tenter de venir en aide aux personnes en détresse. Une fois encore, un pays comme le Qatar, qui déjà mène depuis des années une stratégie offensive de médiateur de crises, assoit son rôle d’acteur humanitaire de premier plan sur plusieurs continents. Le contexte est celui d’un multilatéralisme en déroute depuis plusieurs années, de l’affaiblissement des grandes puissances, et du retour en puissance des acteurs régionaux, sans compter les microconfettis étatiques qui se rêvent en acteurs géopolitiques incontournables de l’échiquier mondial.…  Seguir leyendo »

A delivery of humanitarian aid in opposition-held Idlib, Syria, June 2021. Khalil Ashawi / Reuters

For close to a decade, at least four million people living in the parts of northwest Syria controlled by rebel groups have depended on the United Nations for food, medicine, and basic services. Back in 2014, as the country’s civil war raged, the UN and other aid agencies received Security Council approval to deliver essential supplies across the Syrian-Turkish border without the permission of the Syrian regime. But all that changed on July 10 of this year, when Russia—a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad—vetoed the extension of this humanitarian lifeline. As a result, millions of lives were thrown into jeopardy.…  Seguir leyendo »

Los banqueros centrales y los ministros de finanzas de todo el mundo se dieron cita este abril en Washington D. C. en las Reuniones de Primavera del FMI y el Banco Mundial. Su objetivo no era fácil: lidiar con la crisis de la deuda, diseñar cómo continuar financiando la agenda global de desarrollo al tiempo que atienden crisis mayores —como reconstruir Ucrania—, transitar hacia energías limpias y prepararse ante futuras pandemias. Conjugar estos intereses es complicado en circunstancias normales, pero la situación económica mundial lo hace aún más desafiante. Con el aumento de los tipos de interés y la disminución de los ingresos fiscales, el capital privado no fluye hacia los mercados emergentes del mundo, mientras que los presupuestos para la ayuda al desarrollo de muchos Gobiernos siguen menguando.…  Seguir leyendo »

Personas desplazadas por la sequía esperan para recibir agua en un campo de refugiados en Baidoa, Somalia, el pasado febrero.YASUYOSHI CHIBA (AFP via Getty Images)

Mientras los miembros de la Alianza Atlántica se reunían en Madrid, y continúan los ataques sobre Kiev, el contador que más rápido crece es de las víctimas que se suman en África y otras partes del planeta. Son las otras víctimas de conflictos como la guerra de Ucrania, las más numerosas, las más invisibles: 49 millones de personas, algo más que el equivalente a la población total de España, pueden morir por una hambruna inminente. Hasta 14 millones de ellas son niños y niñas.

En el Sahel occidental —sobre todo en Nigeria, Níger, Burkina Faso, Chad y Malí— el número de personas que necesitan ayuda alimentaria de emergencia se ha quintuplicado entre 2015 y 2022, de 7 a 38 millones.…  Seguir leyendo »

A worker unloading humanitarian aid in rebel-held Idlib, Syria, June 2021. Khalil Ashawi / Reuters

Today, the UN Security Council renewed a resolution that allows humanitarian aid to be delivered to millions of Syrians without the permission of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In the weeks leading up to the vote, diplomats, aid workers, and millions of Syrians worried that Russia would use its veto in the Security Council to block the cross-border aid. They had good reason to be concerned. Moscow, one of Assad’s closest backers, has long argued that the humanitarian mission violates Syria’s sovereignty, and it has previously vetoed the use of other crossing points for aid delivery into Syria. This time, the crisis is averted, at least for the next six months.…  Seguir leyendo »

The UN Security Council has adopted a cross-cutting exception for humanitarian action in UN sanctions. What does it cover? What must happen next?

The UN Security Council has removed an obstacle to humanitarian work. On 9 December 2022, it adopted a resolution establishing a cross-cutting exception to existing – and future – UN financial sanctions for funds or assets necessary for humanitarian assistance and activities to meet basic human needs. In a coup for multilateralism, the council has been able to act, even when the Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused paralysis in other areas.

Resolution 2664 – introduced by Ireland and the US, co-sponsored by 53 states, and adopted by 14 votes in favour, with India abstaining – is the culmination of a decade of engagement between humanitarian organizations and states to find ways of avoiding the adverse impact of sanctions on the most vulnerable: people relying on humanitarian action for survival.…  Seguir leyendo »

Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders staff help evacuate pensioners from villages near the front lines of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, on July 18. Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images

In April, I was volunteering with World Central Kitchen along Poland’s border with Ukraine. A barbeque chef from North Carolina stood next to me in the warehouse as we unpacked bread for sandwiches. “I heard the International Red Cross is kidnapping Ukrainians and taking them into Russia”, he said confidently.

The chef said that earlier, at a nearby cafe, a man went from table to table telling diners the humanitarian organization was forcibly deporting Ukrainians to Russia. Social media users shared and posted tweets about the purported kidnappings, with mentions of the Red Cross peaking over a three-day period at the end of March.…  Seguir leyendo »

La Organización de las Naciones Unidas recientemente estimó que la cantidad de menores afectados por la crisis y que necesitan apoyo educativo urgente ha aumentado desde 75 millones en 2016 a 222 millones en la actualidad. Son 222 millones de sueños truncados y 222 millones de ataques a nuestra humanidad colectiva.

Esta crisis creciente tendrá prolongados efectos en nuestras economías y sociedades. Pero solo entre un 2 y un 4% de la financiación humanitaria global se destina a educación. A medida que los líderes mundiales deciden la asignación de recursos en respuesta a la pandemia de COVID-19, el cambio climático y los conflictos, deben hacer del gasto en educación una prioridad mucho mayor.…  Seguir leyendo »

Volunteers complete first aid kits at a humanitarian relief centre in Lviv, Ukraine. Photo by YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP via Getty Images.

Sanctions play a major role in the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The United Nations (UN) has not imposed sanctions, but an important number of states have done so. They have imposed a wide array of restrictions and the number of targeted – or ‘designated’ – persons is unprecedented.

The public has been captivated by the freezing of oligarchs’ assets. There is ongoing discussion about seizing them to provide compensation for war damage. Debate continues about how far to ban oil and gas imports.

One aspect of the sanctions has received far less attention, even though it can exacerbate the effect of the conflict of civilians.…  Seguir leyendo »

President Joe Biden said in August that the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan would not signal the end of US support to the Afghan people, pledging active humanitarian support and diplomatic engagement. But the policies of the US and other Western powers have done the opposite, instead delivering isolation, economic mayhem and human misery.

Following the Taliban takeover in August, Western states froze all development aid, worth 75% of the Afghan government's budget. Many civil servants, including doctors and teachers, have not been paid since August. Western powers froze $9.5 billion in Afghan assets in foreign banks -- the vast majority of which is held in the US.…  Seguir leyendo »

The people of Afghanistan are starving; to turn our backs on them is morally wrong

How can it be that, in these first weeks of 2022, the world is allowing millions of Afghan children to face death from starvation? And this after months during which the UN, a score of governments, the EU and the Arab League, not to mention US ex-army commanders, ambassadors and humanitarians, have been publicly pleading for immediate action to stop the cascade of Afghan lives lost to famine and malnutrition.

On Tuesday, Martin Griffiths and Filippo Grandi, UN humanitarian and refugee coordinators, once again begged countries to send food and urgent supplies. They announced the biggest humanitarian appeal mounted since 1945 for a single country, a $4.5bn request to help more than 23 million Afghans on the edge of starvation.…  Seguir leyendo »

Taliban fighters guard a street in the Laghman province of Afghanistan, following the Taliban takeover of the country. Photo by AFP via Getty Images.

The 9/11 attacks prompted the international community to adopt a wide range of counterterrorism measures. Debate continues over their compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL) and human rights law, and their effectiveness.

What has become clear is that some of these measures have made it difficult for humanitarian assistance to be provided to the millions of people living in areas under the control of armed groups designated as terrorist, or where such groups have a significant presence.

These include Al-Qaeda in Yemen’s Arabian peninsula, ISIL affiliates in Syria, Al Shabaab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria, Hamas in Gaza, and various Al-Qaeda affiliates in the Sahel.…  Seguir leyendo »

‘Our teams have had a ‘knock on the door’ by the Taliban in many of the provinces where we operate. We have been asked to continue our work.’ Photograph: EPA

It felt surreal to be flying into Kabul international airport rather than out, crossing paths with families who were trying to flee. For three days I sat stranded in a field hospital in the airport grounds, the crowds and chaos blocking any route into the city, the popping of guns blocking any notion of sleep.

I had returned to Afghanistan to head up the Norwegian Refugee Council’s aid operation, through which we have been providing assistance such as education, food and shelter since 2003. Speaking with many of my colleagues, it is clear Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis stretches far beyond the perimeter of Kabul airport.…  Seguir leyendo »

Afghan nationals walk along a fenced corridor after crossing into Pakistan through the Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing point in Chaman on 28 August 2021. AFP

Dramatic scenes at the Kabul airport of Afghans desperate to leave the country, and horrific bombings there, captured the world’s attention in the weeks after the Taliban took power. The focus is now shifting to a much larger, multi-faceted humanitarian crisis throughout the country. Violence, displacement, drought and the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Afghan population with accelerating force in recent years, and the humanitarian disaster gathered pace in May as the final withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces began. Afghans teemed across borders seeking refuge after the government collapsed on 15 August.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on 30 August calling for “enhanced” humanitarian assistance.…  Seguir leyendo »

Las ruinas de un hospital en Fleurant, Haití, después de un terremoto de magnitud 7,2 este mes. Credit Fernando Llano/Associated Press

El terremoto de magnitud de 7,2 grados que sacudió a Haití hace una semana ha devastado el país; ha ocasionado la muerte de al menos 2189 personas y trastornado la vida de alrededor de 1,5 millones más al oeste de la capital, Puerto Príncipe. Estas comunidades no tienen acceso a servicios médicos, refugio, agua corriente ni alimentos. Como si esta catástrofe no hubiera sido suficiente, también han tenido que lidiar con inundaciones y deslaves causados por la tormenta tropical Grace y con la amenaza que supone la violencia de las pandillas para las caravanas que traen equipo y provisiones.

Para nosotros, los haitianos, este es otro doloroso episodio de déjà vu.…  Seguir leyendo »

Protests against the reduction of the food basket provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees at Khan Yunis in the Southern Gaza Strip. Photo by SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images.

An all-time peak in people needing humanitarian assistance was reached in 2020 – 243.8 million spread across 75 countries – and yet at the same time global humanitarian funding decreased to an unparalleled 52 per cent gap. COVID-19 has exacerbated pre-existing crisis situations, and advanced economies are not meeting their targets, in part due to the demands of the pandemic.

So while the needs are greater than ever before, so is the lack of funding. The UK recently cut aid spending temporarily from 0.7 to 0.5 per cent and other G20 countries such as Australia and Italy have also failed to meet their aid targets – in fact Australia has been pursuing a policy of decreasing aid spending.…  Seguir leyendo »

Un camp de déplacés syriens au nord-ouest de la province d’Idleb, en Syrie, le 11 juillet 2020. Photo d’archives AFP

Le 28 mai dernier, la Syrie est devenue l’un des 34 membres du conseil exécutif de la 74e Assemblée mondiale de la santé de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS). Douze pays se sont présentés pour occuper les douze sièges (sur 34) disponibles, la Syrie ayant été nommée – avec l’Afghanistan – par le Bureau régional pour la Méditerranée orientale de cette organisation (EMRO). Cette procédure s’est déroulée sans vote et sans qu’aucun des membres donateurs siégeant déjà dans cette enceinte ne conteste ce choix, alors qu’ils en avaient la faculté.

L’admission de la Syrie n’est qu’une des nombreuses erreurs de jugement et de gestion dans les approches humanitaires et diplomatiques de la Syrie et du Liban.…  Seguir leyendo »