Global Policy Forum

By Ian Brown*

The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Wednesday November 24, 2004:
In the article below, on the role of non-governmental organisations in Iraq, we said that Oxfam had "failed to condemn the war outright, more concerned about a cut in funding than the consequences for the Iraqi population". Oxfam has asked us to point out that not only did it condemn the war, but that every member of Oxfam International, including Oxfam in Britain, agreed in February 2003 to refuse any funding for work in Iraq from the US, the UK, or any other belligerent government.

I met Margaret Hassan in 1987 during the Iran-Iraq war, when I was an aid worker running an educational programme for young Iranian prisoners-of-war in Ramadi, then a quiet town where the only gunfire heard was during weddings. Margaret hadn't yet become an aid worker for Care Iraq. She was assistant director of studies at the British Council in Baghdad. I'd gone to see her to ask if the council might let me have any leftover English books to stock the meagre prison library. I wasn't hopeful, given the sensitivity of the demand.

Margaret could not have been more generous. What I remember most of that meeting was the concern she showed towards the young Iranians. Were they getting enough to eat? Were they mistreated in any way? Did they have warm clothes to protect against the harsh Iraqi winter? And as I was leaving, she said I had to come to her home one day for a slice of her renowned lemon meringue pie.

I was expelled from Iraq in 1989 for criticising the government's treatment of PoWs. I went on to be a country director for various aid organisations, doing a similar job to Margaret in Africa and south-east Asia for another 10 years. Like her, I worked in countries at war where the security of the personnel was a constant preoccupation.

"Who killed Margaret Hassan?" many are asking, against a background of widespread shock and horror at the murder of an innocent woman. Thus far, we still have no idea who carried out the abduction and killing.

I have a question too, which is just as relevant: why hadn't Care International, which oversees Care's activities worldwide, suspended operations in Iraq, as other aid organisations such as Oxfam had done months before?

I cannot say for sure, but I believe the answer lies in a trend that has been developing among international aid organisations, or non-governmental organisations, since the mid-1980s. This was the time of the Ethiopian famine and Bob Geldof's Band Aid appeal, which raised millions of pounds for the victims. Most of the money was channelled through the NGOs, which almost overnight were transformed from small-scale charities into multi-million-pound institutions. Growth continued, indeed became a strategic aim for most. Care International spent £250m this year. Oxfam and Save the Children's budgets both exceed £100m.

Donations by the public, however, have not kept pace with the growth of the NGOs. Increasingly, they depend on government funding. And, whereas in the past, NGOs set strict limits to government funding in order to maintain operational independence, those limits have quietly been removed: Care UK received 64% of this year's funds from the Department for International Development. Care USA, which is by far the wealthiest member of the Care International family, received 75% of its annual expenditure of £320m from the US government.

Care can no longer claim to be an independent NGO. All its operations, including those in Iraq, will depend to a degree on US government funds and, to coin a phrase, you don't bite the hand that feeds you. In many countries, close links to the US government go unnoticed. Not so in Iraq. And there are clear indications that Care's operations in Iraq were compromised by links to the US and UK administrations. While Margaret is on record as condemning the invasion of Iraq, Care headquarters profess only to being "deeply concerned about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Iraq".

When more than a million people took to the streets of London on February 15 last year, the overwhelming majority were trying to prevent war. Care UK joined the protest march only "to raise awareness of the potential humanitarian consequences of war in Iraq". Potential humanitarian consequences? After the devastation of Afghanistan, there could be no doubt that the invasion of Iraq by the world's most powerful army would trigger a humanitarian disaster. Were Care and many other aid organisations, including Oxfam and Save the Children, who also failed to condemn the war outright, more concerned about a cut in funding than the consequences for the Iraqi population?

In the aftermath of the invasion and the welter of criticism directed at the occupying forces for failing to plan for the reconstruction of the country, the international aid organisations finally voiced their concerns. One by one, they suspended operations and withdrew foreign staff as security deteriorated. I know how difficult the decision is to stop helping people in need. Yet those who work in conflict zones are aware that the lives of staff override operational matters. All the international aid organisations adhered to that principle - all except Care.

In spite of her Iraqi nationality, her fluent Arabic, even her conversion to Islam, Margaret Hassan, as the director of Care in Iraq, was caught in the compromise NGOs make when they rely on western governments for their funding. No matter her vociferous condemnation of the invasion, no matter her genuine dedication to helping those in need, Iraq is simply too dangerous a place for aid workers.

She may have been abducted by gangsters in a plot to extort money which went tragically wrong. The more likely scenario, I believe, is that she was killed because she was considered to be collaborating with the enemy. Indeed, elements within the Iraqi resistance have long since called for all foreigners, except journalists, to leave the country.

Whoever killed Margaret Hassan, the failure to close the Care office in Baghdad has had appalling consequences.

About the Author: Ian Brown worked as a country director for various NGOs, including Oxfam, from 1986 to 1998, and is the author of Khomeini's Forgotten Sons: The Story of Iran's Boy Soldiers (Grey Seal), and Cambodia: A Country Profile (Oxfam, Oxford).