by Pierre Hazan
LibérationMarch 7, 2002
Accused of putting the needs of the most unfortunate as a second-string priority, NGOs are also being called on the carpet for lack of management control
Flour for sex.
The humanitarian world is still reeling from last week's publication of a report by Save the Children and the UNHCR. Based on 1,500 witnesses, mostly adolescents, the report accuses 67 humanitarian workers from 40 organizations (including some French NGOs) of using their power to obtain sexual favors from minors among the refugee community in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
The suspects range from drivers to those responsible for distributing aid inside the camps; Kofi Annan, SG of the UN, quickly sent a team from the UN's internal investigation unit to look into the matter. The head of UNHCR, Ruud Lubbers, promised "immediate disciplinary sanctions for humanitarian workers who took advantage of children – the most vulnerable of all refugees." A few weeks earlier, the UNHCR had revealed that a criminal network had infiltrated its office in Nairobi (Kenya), extorting money from refugees and offering the richest the possibility of emigrating to the west. This network made death threats to anyone who breathed a word of their racket, including the American Ambassador in Nairobi. These scandals, coupled with the abuse of power, show the deep-rooted dysfunction in the humanitarian community.
Kris Janowski, spokesman for the UNHCR admitted "In West Africa, we betrayed our mandate to protect. Our control and verification systems did not work. Our investigation will reveal why this happened." His boss, Ruud Lubbers, blames donors "The HCR did not receive the financial means to allow the refugees to live in a secure environment." A simple lack of funds? At the UN agency, it is emphasized that operations in Africa are not very attractive to western donors, who are mainly interested in media visibility. Over the last two years, the UNHCR budget was reduced by 20% and staff by 14%. As for programmes, they were cut as much as possible when they weren't ended outright. Even food rations were reduced.
The HCR has become a mere coordinator : Jean-Hervé Bradol, president of MSF France, dismisses the financial argument and accuses the UNHCR of having lost its soul. "The UNHCR was given an explicit mandate by the international community to protect refugees. However, they squandered it. Pushed by states, notably the most powerful, the UNHCR became a mere distributor of food and blankets, when it was not participating in the forced repatriations. After having abdicated its mandate, the UNHCR can hardly be surprised about what has happened in the camps they are responsible for in West Africa."
This is scathing criticism, but it does underline a real problem. Over the last ten years, the UNHCR has been caught up in a wave of tragedy. Member states have pressured it to manage the flux of millions of refugees and IDPs in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Africa, or to play at being humanitarian as it did during the Bosnian war. Today the UNHCR has become a multinational company charged with protecting 23 million people. However, since the fall of communism, for western states – the main donors – refugees have lost their political "plus-value." Seen another way, refugees are no longer depicted as people in search of liberty, but as a problem of public order. And the UNHCR, gauge of the worries of the western world, has felt this change even in war-torn Africa. Humanitarian workers (the fact that they are local staff is neither here nor there) have ended up despising the very people they were supposed to help. How else can we understand people, put in all-powerful position vis-í -vis those with no rights at all, buying sexual favors from minors for a bar of soap worth ten (Euro) cents.
Become more professional.
To counter to this dehumanization, Wayne MacDonald, who is analyzing the evaluation for the ICRC, underlines the necessity of making the humanitarian world more professional. "The era of charities is over. From now on, we have to think in terms of management, organization, setting up structures for inspection and transparency. However, professionalism can only be achieved by carrying out a psychological and cultural revolution in a field where the idea of "doing good" can too often shield you from criticism However, the black hole of Goma in 1995-1996 served as a warning. After the genocide of the Tutsis in 1994, the international community had invested a lot in the Hutus camps run by killers, although no country wanted to send in the Blue Helmets. Audits have revealed the fierce competition between NGOs, to the detriment of the refugees (sometimes costing their very lives) and the aberrant behavior of certain religious American organizations which, by laying on hands, claimed to heal people….. "It was in Goma that we understood that all was not well in the humanitarian world," explains Wayne Mac Donald.
Credibility called into question.
The discussion is on the table. Codes of conduct have been drawn up. The idea of an ombudsman for refugees has surfaced, but the humanitarian landscape is too fragmented between the quasi-volunteers and the aristocracy of international aid. Salaries range from 100 to 6000 euros per month. The number of NGOs has grown, and with one emergency after another, lessons have been lost. And yet there are so many challenges – the assassination of humanitarian workers in Chechnya, Burundi and elsewhere; military humanitarian operations which have left a bitter taste in Kosovo; confusion between these two roles by Americans in Afghanistan last fall. But the scandal in West Africa means that there can no longer be any delay between raising awareness and the need to act. Yves Daccord of the ICRC warns: "A few more episodes like this and all credibility of humanitarian action will be called into question. There are rules that exist. They must be implemented by all organizations. If not, these NGOs will no longer have any legitimacy to work."
Today, the UNHCR is advocating several measures: putting in place a greater number of female staff, better access for refugees to legal structures, giving over parcels of land so that refugees have greater autonomy. These are measures that have become necessary but which avoid the root problem – reducing the gap between the objective of protecting refugees and political constraints.
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