GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Two of the main Geneva-based aid organizations are reporting very different situations in the field this week. The IOM (International Organization for Migration) Tuesday 28 February announced the relatively good news that the number of people still living in camps in Haiti has fallen to under half a million people for the first time since the massive earthquake in 2010.
ICRC enters Hama for first time with blankets, hygiene kits
The ICRC (International Red Cross), which is publishing daily updates on its work in Syria, says it is entering the city of Hama for the first time, with emergency supplies for 12,000 people. But it reported Sunday that efforts to remove scores of injured people from Syria were cut short when it failed to get the agreement of both government forces and rebels to a ceasefire that would allow it to provide emergency services.
Times journalist escapes; Bouvier may also be in Lebanon
Aljazeera reports Tuesday morning that one of the injured Western journalists hurt in the shelling that killed two others last week in Homs, Syria, has escaped to Lebanon. Paul Conroy, a photographer for the Sunday Times in the UK made it safely out of Syria and French reporter Edith Bouvier, who has made headlines with her video appeal from Homs, where she suffered a broken leg, may also be in Lebanon. Bouvier’s whereabouts has not been confirmed, according to Aljazeera.
Haiti situation: refugees being moved into new homes
The IOM reports that the reduction in camp numbers
“comes as the Government of Haiti’s newly created housing authority L’Unité de Construction de Logements et de Bâtiments Publics (UCLBP) starts to deliver results and the pace of relocation picks up. An initiative known as “16/6″ is helping earthquake displaced people living in six public spaces to return to sixteen communities which are undergoing redevelopment. It was launched by President Michel Martelly last year and a government-led steering committee is now setting the pace for reconstruction and relocation.
“In the last two weeks, under this programme, some 200 families have permanently left Champ de Mars, the historic plaza in front of the ruined National Palace. Over the coming months the square will be returned to public use under the project, which is funded by Canada.”
Regional trains, especially in border areas, suffered losses as tourism dropped when the franc climbed
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Four rail groups are receiving CHF21 million in aid from the Swiss government to offset some of the losses they suffered in 2011 due to the rapid increase in the value of the Swiss franc during the year.
All four provide transalpine shipping and use combined or piggyback cargo transport, carrying trucks to reduce the environmental impact on the Alps.
The government in 2011 set aside more than CHF28m in credit for which companies could apply, showing the losses directly linked to the currency’s sudden rise. Four presented their figures at the start of 2012 and will be helped out of the funds set aside: BLS Cargo, CFF Cargo International, Crossrail and TX Logistik.
Another CHF11.2m was distributed in December 2011 to a number of transport companies, mainly regional, which lost money because of a sharp fall in tourism due to the high franc.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The massive flooding that has affected large areas of Pakistan for months is straining humanitarian agencies budgets, stretched thin by falling donor contributions as economies weaken. Care International Thursday issued a plea for more funding despite the economic situation, for a particularly vulnerable group, pregnant women.
The Geneva group notes that “of the more than five million people currently affected by the floods in Sindh, approximately 143,750 of them are pregnant women. Of these, 15 percent—or 21,562 women—will need medical treatment for obstetric complications.” The aid group says that women and children need a range of services, from family planning to the prevention and treatment of sexual violence, clean delivery services, and emergency obstetric and newborn care.
Care notes that to date only 22 percent of the promised funding for the emergency in Pakistan has come through, and the situation is desperate:
”Privacy’ is a serious health issue for women, particularly pregnant and lactating women. ‘They are trapped, exposed on the roadside, and there are no private latrines, [Dr Malik Umair, Senior Health Advisor] Umair says.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – United Nations groups based in Geneva, already under enormous pressure to meet demands for help in the Horn of Africa, are increasing their efforts to help Pakistan’s flood victims. Pakistan has been hit hard by floods for the second year in a row.
Some 6 million people have been affected by this year’s flooding in the southern province of Sindh alone and, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 1.3 million homes have been destroyed and 428,000 people are living in camps.
The IOM says it has distributed the last of 18,000 emergency kits it pre-positioned in Sindh, one of the worst-hit areas. The kits, with two plastic tarpaulins, 2 shovels, a bucket and a kitchen set each, are providing help to 126,000 people.
The IOM is appealing to international donors for $14.6 million in aid to supply basic food and housing needs and it is also appealing for $2.2 million in aid for its local partner, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority.
The flooding is mainly in the south of the country, affecting several provinces but with Sindh one of the most affected areas. Aid workers say it is taking several days for provisions to reach the area overland from Peshawar in the country’s northwest. Flood victims are having trouble finding enough dry ground to set up emergency tents. Details, Pakistan Shelter Cluster: http://www.shelterpakistan.org
UNHCR, the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, says several social problems are on the rise as a direct result of the crisis, such as domestic violence and child labour.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Netherlands Wednesday threw its support soundly behind Geneva-based Global Fund, agreeing to invest €163.5 million to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria. Perhaps more critically, the Dutch government made the announcement with a firm message of support for the organization’s financial credibility.
The Global Fund suffered a sharp if possibly temporary reduction in funding this year following a widely distributed US news agency report in January that mistakenly accused the fund of not managing money properly.
The report focused on alleged fraud cases and implied mismanagement, but used information the Global Fund itself had published, following internal investigations, as part of its policy of transparency. Several governments withdrew their funding pledges as a result, saying they needed time to review the situation, putting the Global Fund’s operations into a precarious situation.
Dutch Minister for European and International Affairs Ben Knapen underscored Dutch support in the wake of the Geneva group’s funding crisis, in announcing the agreement through the Dutch Foreign Ministry:
Japan’s trade with and financial aid for Africa are likely to fall, in the wake of the massive earthquake in early March, a new report from Standard Bank in South Africa says. It notes that bilateral trade between Africa and Japan in 2010 totalled $24 billion, up 30 percent from 2009.
South Africa is most likely to be hit by a drop in trade, but Nigeria could also be affected. Sudan and Tanzania may see aid cutbacks as the Japanese economy struggles to get back on track.
Links to other sites: allAfrica, Standard Bank full report
Libya-Tunisian border, end of February (photo, ©UNHCR / A Duclos)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The numbers are daunting, whether the size of the crowds fleeing Libya’s battlegrounds, or the amount of aid needed, in kind and in cash, to help them. A roundup of the latest news and appeals from Geneva-based humanitarian and emergency aid teams:
ICRC (International Red Cross)
Two ICRC medical teams, 10 surgeons and nurses, have been in the cities of Benghazi and Ajdabya since 5-6 March, treating people wounded in the fighting.
“The first team was sent to Al Jalaa Hospital in Benghazi, which has received the bulk of the casualties since the onset of the crisis. The second team was posted to Ajdabya Central Hospital, which has also received dozens injured in the clashes in and around the city. These steps were taken in coordination with the Libyan Red Crescent and the Benghazi Health Committee, after thorough discussions with all concerned.”
The ICRC teams comprise four specialists from the German Red Cross, four specialists from the Norwegian Red Cross, and an ICRC doctor and nurse.
“‘Even though hospitals in Benghazi and nearby cities have coped so far with the influx of casualties, we are helping some of them replenish their emergency stocks in case the situation deteriorates,’ said Simon Brooks, ICRC representative in Benghazi. ‘Today, in cooperation with the Libyan Red Crescent, we also sent enough surgical supplies and equipment to treat 100 injured people in the west of the country.’”
The ICRC’s medical teams, headed by Dr Marco Baldan, held a surgical seminar for more than 70 Libyan doctors and nurses at Al Jalaa hospital on 5 and 6 March.
IOM (International Organization for Migration)
The IOM says the hardest-hit group is Bangladeshis, many of whom have now been sleeping out in the open in bitterly cold weather for 10 days, with very limited food and water supplies. Evacuations “cannot happen fast enough” for them, say IOM spokespersons.
“In Tunisia, where there are still about 13,000 Bangladeshis at Choucha camp near the Ras Adjir border, 1,264 will leave on IOM charter flights from Djerba. A group of 516 Bangladeshis who left Libya by road via Egypt’s Sallum border crossing will leave on IOM three charter flights in the course of the day from Marsa Matroh, 230 kms east of the border.
A further 372, who arrived in Alexandria yesterday on an IOM-chartered ferry from Benghazi in Libya, will fly home directly from Alexandria airport.
While today’s evacuations were welcomed by the nearly 3,700 Bangladeshis still stranded on the Egyptian border, IOM will need to charter at least 20 more similar flights from Egypt alone to get them home, even if there are no new arrivals from Libya.
However, IOM sources in Libya and passengers on the ferry from Benghazi which docked in Alexandria yesterday indicate that there are thousands more foreigners, including Bangladeshis in the city, who may decide to leave if conditions deteriorate. Two more IOM charters carrying nearly 340 more Bangladeshis are scheduled to fly out of Marsa Matroh tomorrow, Wednesday, with an estimated 1,200 more to fly from Djerba.”
UNHCR (High Commissioner for Refugees)
The UNHCR is urgently seeking help to provide an additiona 40-50 flights to help Bangladeshis and other Asians to leave, even though funds and charter flights donated by governments are already well underway. The number of refugees on the Libya-Tunisia border has dropped significantly, but this is because of limited mobility, arriving refugees say, due to intense fighting in Libya.
“The UNHCR is alarmed by increasing accounts of violence and discrimination in Libya against sub-Saharan Africans. These accounts are coming from both eastern and western areas. . . Yesterday a UNHCR team at the Egypt border interviewed a group of Sudanese who arrived from eastern Libya who said that armed Libyans were going door to door, forcing sub-Saharan Africans to leave. In one instance a 12-year-old Sudanese girl was said to have been raped. They reported that many people had their documents confiscated or destroyed. We heard similar accounts from a group of Chadians who fled Benghazi, Al Bayda and Brega in the past few days.
At the Egyptian border, one Bangladeshi man died over the weekend after a fight over food distribution. UNHCR staff said that many of the 3,500 Bangladeshis at the border have been waiting for up to 10 days for onward transport, and are becoming increasingly agitated. Many are sleeping outside in the bitter cold as available shelter at the border is filled to capacity. Over 14,000 meals were distributed to the stranded population who are in and around the border post yesterday. An estimated 5,000 people are awaiting onwards transport.”
Pakistan/ Floods/ A young Afghan boy stands next to his home damaged by flash floods in the Hazijai Afghan refugee village in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (photo: ©2010 UNHCR / R Ali
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – One-fifth of Pakistan is under water and while floodwaters are receding in some places, the need for basic shelter in flooded areas in Pakistan has become critical, say Geneva-based humanitarian organizations, who are launching appeals for more public support. International Office for Migration (IOM) Director General William Lacy Swing, who has been visiting the area, says “these floods are one of the most extreme humanitarian disasters in living memory.”
The flooding is causing enormous displacement problems in Pakistan as well as in neighbouring Afghanistan, where the number of returning refugees is growing rapidly.
Appeal triples in size to US$120 million
The UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) issued a broadcast appeal late Tuesday 30 August, featuring its Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie. That UN agency says that “with nearly 20 million people estimated to have been affected, the needs of the victims are outpacing the ability of humanitarian organizations to provide assistance. Last week UNHCR revised upwards its global appeal for the Pakistan flood operation to US$120 million from US$41 million.”
Refugees from Equator province, November 2009, when number reached 100,000 http://www.flickr.com/photos/unhcr/4271338608/ (photo: BB Diallo/UNHCR)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Several United Nations offices appealed Tuesday morning 9 March in Geneva for an urgent infusion of aid money to meet the needs of 110,000 refugees in northern Republic of Congo’s Likouala province. Eighty-two percent are women and children who fled fighting in Democratic Republic of Congo’s Equateur Province. UNHCR is asking for $20 million.
The request is part of a broader appeal by UN agencies, who say they have received only $17.3 million of the nearly $59 million the need for refugees from the Equator region in the country in 2010. Partners in the appeal are: the World Food Programme, Unicef, the World Health Organization, Unesco, the UN Development Programme, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization and the UNFPA.
The refugees fled from Equator province in late October 2009 “when Enyele militiamen launched deadly assaults on ethnic Munzayas over fishing and farming rights in the Dongo area,” the UNHCR says.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is suspending operations in southern Somalia, it announced Wednesday 6 January, saying that a spate of attacks have made it too dangerous to work there. More than one million people in the region are going hungry, according to the WFP. Reuters NewsAlert says that children are likely to be hurt the most by the suspension, with a sharp increase in malnutrition to be expected. The news is yet another blow to the region, where humanitarian agencies have found it increasingly hard, they say, to continue their work and where years of drought have been exacerbated because expected rains never arrived in November.
Links to other sites: ENS News Service, Reuters AlertNet, UN World Food Programme
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The United States heads into the Cartagena Summit, which opens Sunday 29 November in Colombia, now saying that it is continuing to review its policy on signing the international Mine Ban treaty. The US is sending a sizeable official observer team to the summit, with groups from the State Department, Pentagon, US Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Cartagena Summit is the second review of the 1997 Ottawa Convention that bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines. More than 1,000 delegates, including several heads of state, will participate in the summit, which will assess progress made in clearing the world of landmines.
Cause of US shift unexplained
The US said in a statement issued Wednesday 25 November that it is still reviewing its position on signing the 10-year-old Mine Ban treaty – the opposite of what it said the previous day, but it was unclear if the statement was a correction of an error, a change in tactics ahead of the Cartagena Summit that opens 29 November in Colombia, or a change of heart following harsh criticism.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland is giving CHF450,000 to the Philippines Red Cross as emergency money to help victims of the floods provoked by tropical storm Ketsana, Bern announced late Thursday 1 October. It is also sending two experts from the Humanitarian Aid corps to help assess needs.
International humanitarian groups launched a new appeal for donor funds for Zimbabwe under the umbrella Cap (Consolidated Appeals Process), asking for a 30 percent increase in aid to get the country back on its feet. Cap is a short-term humanitarian financing tool which is combined with other funding but the launch of the new appeal 1 June is unusual in that it goes beyond emergency funding to providing recovery aid, in recognition of progress made by the Inclusive Government formed in February 2009 by the two main parties.
Zimbabwe is still deep in crisis, with AllAfrica (UN Irin) noting that in March, when an initial appeal had reached $719 million for basic aid, “Six million people had limited or no access to safe water and sanitation; 1.5 million children required support to access education; 800,000 people were in need of food aid, and 44,000 children younger than five years needed treatment for severe acute malnutrition.”
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland will give CHF27 million in aid to Ghana, which it cites as an exemplary sub-Saharan African country in terms of political and economic development.
