Commissioner Nielson's Speech at Conference on Forgotten Humanitarian Crises

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to be here as European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid to address this conference on forgotten crises. This issue lies at the heart of the Humanitarian Aid Office's policy priorities.

The nature of the problem can perhaps best be illustrated by a concrete example. When did you last see a headline or hear a report featuring the crisis in Northern Uganda? You may not remember, because although the conflict has been ongoing since 1984, it has been largely ignored by both donors and the media.

Economic activities in Northern Uganda have been brought to a standstill and more than 500,000 people are forced to live in protected camps due to the brutality and ruthlessness of the Lord's Resistance Army. These thugs attack the local population, killing, pillaging and kidnapping children. Some Northern areas are also suffering the effects of cattle raiding by the Karimojong tribe. The livestock thieves are stepping up their activities and depriving already impoverished people of their main source of livelihood. To make matters worse, North and North Eastern Uganda are facing prolonged dry spells, reducing household incomes, and adding to an already strained food security situation.

Despite this dire humanitarian situation, most people have not even heard of the plight of the Northern Ugandans. Why should this be the case? For the mainstream Western media, a small-scale crisis in a far-away African country does not amount to much of a story, especially as it has been dragging on for so long. Less understandable is the lack of humanitarian response when needs are so great. Perhaps Uganda is still riding on its reputation as a 'model' development country. Perhaps the number of people concerned is too small, or perhaps the area lacks geopolitical importance. If the reasons why Northern Uganda has been sidelined are unclear, the consequences for the victims are terrible.

ECHO, for its part, has not forgotten the people of North Uganda or the victims of other so-called forgotten conflicts and crises. ECHO is currently one of the few donors active in the region. ECHO has earmarked more than € 2 million for Uganda in 2002. ECHO has already earmarked €4 million for next year (2003), and this initial sum will be reassessed as we receive up-dates on needs there. Channeled though NGO partners, the key objective of this aid is to assist the population affected by insecurity and drought. The aid helps to provide water and sanitation, health and nutrition, shelter, protection and the rehabilitation of child soldiers.

Sadly, Uganda is not the only crisis to have 'dropped off the map' in this way. Other examples include the crisis in Chechnya, the Western Saharan Refugees in Algeria and Burmese refugees in Thailand, to name just a few.

The reality is that some humanitarian crises attract more media and/or donor attention than others. And as it is easier to move a camera crew than ship in tonnes of emergency relief, the journalists often arrive before the aid agencies.

A famine hits the headlines, shocking images appear on TV screens, and a concerned public pours money into aid appeals, inspiring politicians to act. This phenomenon has been dubbed the 'CNN effect'.

Politicians and Parliaments also tend to overlook the global nature of humanitarian crises. Parliaments usually hold ad hoc debates on specific crises considered to be a priority by the government of the day. Few Parliaments hold regular debates on the current state of humanitarian crises, from a global perspective.

The true global humanitarian picture is distorted, and other crises with equal or greater needs are 'forgotten'. But how can the international community possibly 'forget' a humanitarian emergency? This is the key question we ask ourselves at this conference, but also as European citizens and human beings.

ECHO and its humanitarian partners give top priority to protecting the victims of conflict. This is reflected in the large amounts of aid allocated to programmes in this sphere. In most cases, conflict has become an end in itself, pitching countries and regions into long-term anarchy and chaos. The main victims of these conflicts are the civilian populations and, in particular, women, children, the elderly and the disabled.

ECHO has developed a methodology to define forgotten crises, and this will be dealt with in more detail later on. ECHO is eager to use its size and reputation to counter the CNN factor and bring attention back to humanitarian needs worldwide. Indeed, as one of the world's largest humanitarian aid providers we believe it is our duty, both for the sake of EU taxpayers who fund EU aid programmes and for the sake of the people we help.

All ECHO's financing decisions are made on the basis of needs, not geography, politics or economics. Still, it is often argued that aid assistance is determined less by the needs of people in crisis-hit areas, than by the political imperatives of relief agencies' donor governments. According to this view, the particular historic, political or economic relations between donor governments and the country in crisis has a strong impact on the generosity of aid levels. As a multi-lateral aid donor, ECHO is in a better position to act objectively regardless of national interest.

Donors are also accused of being more willing to help disaster victims in neighboring countries than those in far away countries. It may appear that the further away the victims, the easier it is to ignore the commitment to universal entitlement that is at the heart of the humanitarian idea.

A glance at ECHO's regional allocations in 2001 shows that 71% of ECHO's annual budget is sent to the regions of the world furthest away from the EU. Last year, ECHO spent 33% of its budget in African, Caribbean and Pacific regions, and 20% in Asia, 7% in Latin America and 11% in the middle East and North Africa. The current implementation of ECHO's 2002 strategy confirms continuity in this approach. The place where the disaster happens is not relevant for ECHO. All that matters is to reach the people who are most in need as speedily as possible.

The size of ECHO's financing allocation for humanitarian emergencies depends on the cost of needs on the ground. For example, the Kosovo crisis required very expensive humanitarian interventions such as winter-related support. The cost of buying humanitarian relief in the region concerned was more expensive in Kosovo than in other parts of the world. The €378 million allocated by ECHO at the height of the Kosovo crisis in 1999 should be seen in this context. It is also important to note that €346 million of this amount came from the emergency reserve, and was not taken from ECHO's budget for other regions. ECHO has almost closed all its interventions in the Balkans, and has only allocated €2 million through UNHCR this year.

All humanitarian aid organizations aspire to a needs based approach, but there can be strong pressures to do otherwise. Humanitarian organizations that depend heavily on appeals may be able to convert a tide of sympathy for the victims of a highly publicized crisis into concrete support for their operations in the area. It takes a lot more work to obtain the same result, without the oxygen of publicity, for the victims of forgotten crises.

But can we go so far as to say that public support for foreign relief activities is directly in proportion to the amount of media coverage given to specific emergencies? The issue of forgotten crises is probably more complex than the 'CNN effect' would have us believe. One dramatic story is probably not enough to galvanize action, and the power of the media should not be exaggerated. In some cases humanitarian aid interventions attributed to media reporting were in fact well under way before the first press images were published.

The media is undoubtedly the number one source of public knowledge on humanitarian crises in the world. But as private companies, media groups have different objectives to humanitarian organizations. The media is constantly on the look out for news stories that will grab the attention of readers and listeners. It is difficult to sustain public interest about long drawn out crises in far away places. Most media outlets have been hit hard by growing competition and recession. As a result, Western press organizations have closed foreign bureaus and have reduced coverage of non-Western news by 75% or more over the past decade.

When the mass media does decide to cover humanitarian issues, the picture is often negative. Shocking images of starving children will catch people's attention, but do not give a fair impression of the developing world. And it has been said that the more we are exposed to such horrors in our living rooms, the less likely we are to react. Allegations of fraud and mistakes made by humanitarian agencies also make a good story. We cannot blame journalists for seeking out negative information that will interest their readers. But we can make an effort to explain the good work done by aid agencies. Taxpayers also have a right to know when their money is successfully used to save lives, the challenge is to present it in an interesting and newsworthy way.

We will hear more later about ECHO's efforts to reach humanitarian crises that are out of the media spotlight. ECHO has developed a methodology designed to define forgotten crises in an objective way. We compare how often a humanitarian crisis appears in the news with the level of donor support and the needs of the victims. If the crisis has low media coverage, a relatively low level of donor intervention, and the needs are great, it is qualified as a forgotten crisis.

In a complex and rapidly changing global landscape, perceptions can shift rapidly. Afghanistan, for example, has attracted a lot of media coverage over the last year. However most people would accept that the situation there was largely 'forgotten' prior to 11 September last year, when the country was linked to the terrorist attacks on the United States. ECHO was already committed to relief efforts in Afghanistan before the troops and TV crews arrived. Between 1999 and September 2001, ECHO provided more than €50 million for humanitarian programmes in Afghanistan. In fact, on 11 September 2001 I was on my way to Afghanistan to assess humanitarian needs there. I wanted to go and visit the 29 humanitarian NGOs channeling ECHO aid to the victims of what was then considered to be a forgotten crisis. I had to turn back when I reached London because of the dramatic events in New York and Washington. I was very glad to finally be able to visit Afghanistan in December, and to see for myself the good work done by our partners in very difficult conditions.

The next example of a forgotten crisis that hits the headlines could well be Iraq. Although Iraq is in the news today, few of these news reports deal with the dire humanitarian situation there. ECHO partners are on the ground delivering aid to people in need in Iraq at this very moment. ECHO allocated almost €13 million to Iraq in 2001, and a similar amount is earmarked for this year. ECHO adopted a Global Plan in April 2001, designed to complement the UN's 'Oil for Food' Resolution. The funds, channeled through UN agencies and European NGOs working in Iraq, focused on the rehabilitation of hospitals, primary health centres and water treatment plants. Around 6.5 million people benefited from this assistance including 3.5 million people who were vaccinated. Whatever happens in Iraq, I hope that ECHO will continue to be able to deliver humanitarian to the people that need it so badly.

It should be remembered that thanks to the Internet, the mass media is not the only source of information for anyone lucky enough to have access to a computer. The Internet is a highly efficient tool, ideal for providing a target audience with regular up-dates on a given issue. It has transformed communication between humanitarian aid professionals, both on the ground and at headquarters. It is also a mine of information for any curious surfer wanting to know more about humanitarian issues.

Whatever the role of the media in defining needs, implementation is often problematic for purely practical reasons. The lack of physical accessibility may prevent the neediest obtaining assistance. Sometimes the worst-affected populations simply cannot be reached because of insecurity or major logistical obstacles. In the aftermath of an earthquake, overland transportation links are often brought to a standstill. And conflict is as dangerous for aid workers as it is for the local population. Working under such extreme conditions, humanitarian actors deserve credit for the extent to which they are able to deliver relief to people in need.

ECHO's action in highlighting, defining and targeting forgotten crises is the clearest evidence of European solidarity vis-à-vis victims of natural or man-made disasters. Humanitarian aid is a safety net of last resort for populations whose very survival is threatened. In these circumstances, we have a duty to ensure that the net is there for all who need it. For the sake of the victims involved, the international community simply cannot allow any conflict-creating humanitarian needs to drop off the map. We are grateful for the support of NGO partners in Denmark and elsewhere to help us achieve this goal.

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