Major tsunami cash scandal feared
-16/01/05
Fears that western nations will fail to honour larg
Major tsunami cash scandal feared
-16/01/05
Fears that western nations will fail to honour large financial pledges towards relief and development for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Asia and Africa are now growing, a Christian development agency analyst told Ekklesia today.
Aid organisations and NGOs like Christian Aid also face a challenge to maintain existing priorities as private donations earmarked exclusively for the tsunami disaster dominate patterns of giving.
According to a new Oxfam report due to be published this week, the United Nations humanitarian appeal for those areas hit by the Boxing Day tidal wave are still under-funded by 277 million US dollars, with only 723 million US dollars received out of a total pledged of one billion US dollars.
In previous recent disasters, such as Hurricane Mitchell in Central America and the Bam earthquake in Iran, initial pledges by governments were not all honoured.
The report makes it clear that governments need to be closely scrutinised and pressured to ensure that the present tsunami pledges do not follow suit.
ìLives depend on the work of relief and reconstructionî, a spokesperson said.
Oxfam has also criticised the British government, one of the most generous state donors, for failing to push ahead debt and trade reforms with sufficient rigour. This could hamper redevelopment in the region, it says.
British chancellor Gordon Brown, who has recently spoken of the Christian influence on his concern for Africa, is also under fire from development agencies for colluding with other rich nations in suspending repayments to poor creditor nations rather than wiping them out.
The concern is that interest payments will continue to debilitate the poorest after the debt moratorium ends. Brown is believed to want to go further than the Paris Club, but he is under pressure to conform from corporate interests.
The British Labour government will face an election soon. Christians and those involved in the Make Poverty History campaign will use this as an opportunity to push PM Tony Blair and his chancellor for further debt and trade action.
But New Labour has major backers in the city and the business world whose private charitable contributions are not believed to be matched by a desire for genuine political and economic change.
Meanwhile, though the British publicís response to the tsunami appeal has reached an average per capita contribution of £3.50, analysts say that this is significantly lower than the figure in other industrialised nations.
The Giving Campaign has also calculated that voluntary donations in Britain fell from 1.2 per cent to 0.9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product between 1992 and 2002.
It is hoped that tsunami generosity will not be a one-off, will not lead to so-called ëcompassion fatigueí, and will not lessen the commitment of individuals, agencies and government towards Africa and the major UN development goals.
Ekklesia’s tsunami prayer resources page is here
Major tsunami cash scandal feared
-16/01/05
Fears that western nations will fail to honour large financial pledges towards relief and development for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Asia and Africa are now growing, a Christian development agency analyst told Ekklesia today.
Aid organisations and NGOs like Christian Aid also face a challenge to maintain existing priorities as private donations earmarked exclusively for the tsunami disaster dominate patterns of giving.
According to a new Oxfam report due to be published this week, the United Nations humanitarian appeal for those areas hit by the Boxing Day tidal wave are still under-funded by 277 million US dollars, with only 723 million US dollars received out of a total pledged of one billion US dollars.
In previous recent disasters, such as Hurricane Mitchell in Central America and the Bam earthquake in Iran, initial pledges by governments were not all honoured.
The report makes it clear that governments need to be closely scrutinised and pressured to ensure that the present tsunami pledges do not follow suit.
ìLives depend on the work of relief and reconstructionî, a spokesperson said.
Oxfam has also criticised the British government, one of the most generous state donors, for failing to push ahead debt and trade reforms with sufficient rigour. This could hamper redevelopment in the region, it says.
British chancellor Gordon Brown, who has recently spoken of the Christian influence on his concern for Africa, is also under fire from development agencies for colluding with other rich nations in suspending repayments to poor creditor nations rather than wiping them out.
The concern is that interest payments will continue to debilitate the poorest after the debt moratorium ends. Brown is believed to want to go further than the Paris Club, but he is under pressure to conform from corporate interests.
The British Labour government will face an election soon. Christians and those involved in the Make Poverty History campaign will use this as an opportunity to push PM Tony Blair and his chancellor for further debt and trade action.
But New Labour has major backers in the city and the business world whose private charitable contributions are not believed to be matched by a desire for genuine political and economic change.
Meanwhile, though the British publicís response to the tsunami appeal has reached an average per capita contribution of £3.50, analysts say that this is significantly lower than the figure in other industrialised nations.
The Giving Campaign has also calculated that voluntary donations in Britain fell from 1.2 per cent to 0.9 per cent of Gross Domestic Product between 1992 and 2002.
It is hoped that tsunami generosity will not be a one-off, will not lead to so-called ëcompassion fatigueí, and will not lessen the commitment of individuals, agencies and government towards Africa and the major UN development goals.
Ekklesia’s tsunami prayer resources page is here