The conflict in Afghanistan that began when it was invaded in 2001 is now 15 years old. It has so far left an estimated 111,000 people killed and more than 116,000 injured in war. More than 31,000 of the dead were civilians. The turmoil in the country continues unabated.
The conflict in Iraq since its invasion in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein is now 13 years old. More than 500,000 people have died from war and war-related causes. More die practically every day. The Chilcot Report confirms that the invasion led to the rise of the Islamic State.
The so-called Arab Spring that began in Tunisia in December 2010 and spread across several Arab countries is now being referred to as the Arab Winter. Libya, Yemen and Syria are in turmoil. As in Afghanistan and Iraq, outside powers are deeply involved in these conflicts.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has described the war in Syria as “the biggest humanitarian crisis of our era”. Many cities and provinces in the country have turned into war zones and killing fields. Nearly half of all Syrian citizens have fled from their homes, and one out of eight has become a refugee. More than half of the population that fled are women and children. Imagine if this happened to your country and your people. And to your family.
Absent the authoritarian glue that kept some countries together, critical parts of West Asia and North Africa have dissolved into violent convulsions of ethnic, tribal and sectarian conflict. Severe deficits in democracy and good governance have compounded the situation.
The anarchic conditions have been fertile ground for the rise of many armed movements that are battling each other and the government. Never before, perhaps, have so many Muslims been so busy slaughtering each other, ostensibly in the name of Islam. Backed by patrons in the region as well as countries farther away, some of them have become little more than proxies and instruments in the contest for geopolitical power.
The plight of the Palestinian people continues to weigh heavily on our collective conscience. Palestine remains at the heart of the problems in West Asia even if global attention now is largely on Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen. Six decades after they and their forefathers were driven from their homes and their land, more than six million Palestinians continue to be displaced and dispossessed. No political solution appears to be in sight. Those who wish to return continue to be denied this fundamental right. A generation of displaced Palestinians has passed away. Young children have become old men and women.
Palestinians live in the most basic conditions in UN refugee camps in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, or in neighbouring Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. In the Gaza Strip, life is appalling amidst the rubble of past Israeli shelling. More than 6,000 Palestinians are being held as prisoners and security detainees in Israeli cells without proper trial. For the majority of these prisoners, their greatest crime was to agitate against the illegal occupation of their land.
The Palestinians have lost nearly 80 per cent of the land they owned, yet creeping annexation continues with the building of new illegal settlements according to a grand design. This daylight robbery is carried out with impunity because Israel is only too well aware that the powers that matter will do little of substance to check its actions. Palestine remains tragic testimony to double standards and hypocrisy in the upholding of international law and respect for human rights.
The African continent is the other region facing severe security challenges and grave humanitarian crises. Sadly, the situation continues to deteriorate. Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali are the countries that have suffered the most war and war-related casualties in recent years. The Boko Haram insurgency and government counter-insurgency operations have led to more than 47,000 deaths and more than 1.5 million people displaced in Nigeria. Over 150,000 have fled to neighbouring countries.
More than 300,000 people have died in the civil war in South Sudan, and over three million people have fled their homes since fighting broke out at the end of 2013. Seven million Sudanese are refugees in neighbouring countries. Teaching has stopped in many schools. Four million people face severe food shortages. Hunger, malnutrition and disease are widespread.
An estimated seven million people require humanitarian assistance. Extended drought, occasional flooding, conflict and lack of basic infrastructure have led to long-term food shortages in Somalia. More than one million people have become refugees, and more than one million require food assistance.
Europe in particular is today facing multiple challenges to security arising from the humanitarian crises in West Asia and Africa. Driven by conflicts that have intensified in their home countries, the number of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers has grown from about 280,000 in 2014 to more than a million last year.
The unprecedented scale of refugee flows and migration from crisis areas is causing many European countries to put up barriers and quotas to restrict the flows. This has aggravated the hardships faced by the men, women and children fleeing the fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria mainly.
International efforts to manage the growing humanitarian crises have so far been grossly inadequate. Calls to address the “root causes” of man-made disasters have largely been ignored by the major powers. As a consequence, international efforts have focused more on providing the resources for humanitarian assistance for the affected population. Some efforts are also made to accommodate refugees, migrants and asylum seekers.
The funds and resources allocated for humanitarian assistance have increased over the years, but they are not sufficient to meet the growing demands.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid is seeking a total of US$21.6 billion in aid this year to meet the needs of 95.4 million people most affected by conflicts and natural disasters in 40 countries. So far, only about a quarter of the amount has been received, leaving a shortfall of about US$16 billion.
Valiant efforts, however, continue to be made by international bodies and dedicated groups to increase humanitarian support. The most ambitious of these has been the convening of the first World Humanitarian Summit by the United Nations secretary-general in Istanbul in May 2016. The High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing established by the secretary-general that I was invited to co-chair, also presented its report at the summit and helped shape the outcome.
To be candid, the summit could have been more impactful if there had been stronger political commitment on the part of the major players. The G7 countries saw attendance at the highest level only by Chancellor Angela Merkel. The others were only able to send senior representatives. The summit’s outcome as distilled in a Chair’s Summary is not legally binding upon member states.
The Chair’s Summary was a key document that fed into deliberations among member states early this month.
The aim of the meeting was to agree on a draft outcome document that will be tabled for adoption at a high-level meeting to address large movements of refugees and migrants at the annual United Nations General Assembly Meeting on Sept 19, 2016.
Hopes for more substantive action among the international community at the meeting, however, will not be fulfilled. The outcome document proposes only a “Political Declaration” that contains no concrete commitments on the part of member states to enhance the safety or protection of refugees and migrants. These commitments will only be discussed in 2018. The document will also have no force of international law.
On Sept 20, 2016, United States President Barack Obama is scheduled to convene a Leaders’ Summit on the Global Refugee Crisis at the same venue. The aim is to secure agreement on increased funding for humanitarian causes, admission of more refugees by recipient countries and provision of opportunities for education and work for refugees.
Progress on improving the plight of the millions of refugees and migrants who are trapped in the largest humanitarian crisis since the end of World War Two is therefore likely to be agonisingly slow and incremental. It is nevertheless the obligation of the international community headed by the UN secretary-general and other committed parties to continue to pursue a more effective response to the enormous challenges.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Medecins Sans Frontieres, the Migration and Development Civil Society Network and a host of other international bodies and non-government organisations can be strong partners for a concerted push to secure a global compact for more substantive measures and speedy and effective action.
The consensus achieved so far in initiatives such as “One Humanity: Shared Responsibility” produced at the World Humanitarian Summit and the Political Declaration to be adopted at the forthcoming UN General Assembly Meeting, though modest, can serve as building blocks for this global compact.
The Report of the High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing contains concrete and practicable recommendations on closing the existing large humanitarian financing gap. It suggests measures to reduce humanitarian needs, mobilise additional funds from existing and new sources and improve the efficiency of the delivery system.
Among the ideas submitted for consideration are the apportionment of Official Development Assistance to the most fragile countries; the maintenance of emergency reserve funds; increased investment in dedicated budgets for disaster risk reduction; and multi-year funding. The panel supports ongoing efforts to tap into Islamic social funding such as waqf, zakat and sukuk bonds as Muslim populations are the ones most affected by the conflict-induced humanitarian disasters. A Grand Bargain between donors and organisations dispensing assistance to increase financing and distribute aid more efficiently is also proposed.
Addressing humanitarian disaster needs requires the international community to work on many fronts. Shattered cities and dwellings will have to be rebuilt. Safe water, electricity, food, clothing, shelter and basic health facilities are critical for human survival.
Safe and orderly passage are important for families fleeing from the horrors of war and famine. Unaccompanied minors require special care and protection; many have disappeared in Europe. Education and job opportunities will make migrant communities more self-reliant and resilient. Xenophobia and racial and religious hatred will need to be kept in check.
Adequate and sustainable financial resources are the essential prerequisite for all these. It is therefore of utmost urgency that the humanitarian financing gap be quickly closed. It is equally important that the assistance provided is done in ways that enhance the resilience of fragile disaster-prone countries and communities to better withstand and weather future crises.
The best approach to managing humanitarian disasters made by man, however, is to avert or diminish their likelihood. No human — man, woman or least of all a child — should have to endure the agony and suffering of the refugees and migrants or the affected populations in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Palestine, Nigeria, Sudan or South Sudan.
The necessity to address the root causes of humanitarian disasters has been long recognised. Almost two decades ago, in April 1997, Mrs Sadako Ogata, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said: “The days of ad hoc reactions and which concentrate on symptoms rather than on causes should belong to the past”. The draft outcome document that will be deliberated at the forthcoming UN General Assembly affirms that “We are determined to address the root causes of large movements of refugees and migrants”.
The world will be a safer place if the United Nations Charter, international law, the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols on the rules of war, and international humanitarian law are scrupulously observed and upheld by all countries. Unfortunately, there have been many instances in the past where international law as well as international humanitarian law have been violated with impunity.
It is incumbent upon the international community and especially the International Committee of the Red Cross to seek effective ways to minimise flagrant violations of international humanitarian law. Non-government organisations that are dedicated to global peace can also play an effective role because they are less vulnerable to the politics of power and the need to be “politically correct”.
Too often the security of the human person is made subservient to the interests and security of the state. The Charter of the United Nations firmly ensconces the security of the state as the central concern of recognised international law.
If the profound carnage on human lives that was wrought during the last two World Wars has failed to teach us a lesson, the carnage and human suffering that we now see in the massive humanitarian crises unfolding in West Asia and Africa should sensitise us to the fact that human security and the dignity of the human person should be at the centre of global security concerns.
It would be fitting perhaps to end my speech this evening with a quote from the late Nelson Mandela:
“Safety and security don’t just happen,
They are the result of collective consensus and public investment.
We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear.”