By IPS Correspondents
BRUSSELS, Apr 16 2002 (IPS)

The aid chief of the European Union has condemned Israel and Russia for blocking aid to needy people.

Israel in “denying access to those who desperately need help” is ignoring “the basic principles of humanitarian law,” Poul Nielson, European Union (EU) Commissioner for Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid said Tuesday.

In Chechnya “aid agencies are struggling to deliver vital relief in extremely difficult circumstances, and their efforts are frequently obstructed by the Russian authorities,” he said. “All states are obliged to respect the Geneva conventions,” Nielson said at the launch of the annual review of the EU’s Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO).

The annual review lists the EU’s aid efforts in about 60 countries. In the Palestinian territories, the report says ECHO funded the restoration of water supplies for 14,000 people, and provided resources for primary health care. In the worsening situation after September 11, ECHO provided food aid for 217,000 refugee families, health care improvements for 15,000, and set up 109 refugee shelters in the area.

In Chechnya the report notes that armed conflict led to the displacement of large numbers of people, creating significant humanitarian needs. But it says “international humanitarian organisations intending to work in Chechnya have had to cope with a lengthy and erratic access and work permit system as well as the absence of sufficient security guarantees, despite Russian promises to co-operate.”

Nielson says “international humanitarian law is being respected less and less or is being interpreted in a biased way” around the world. To disregard the rights to assistance “is an assault on fundamental human values and a step backwards for humanity.”

There is an urgent need for access to conflict zones, not just to deliver humanitarian aid, but also to provide neutral witnesses to what is happening, Nielson said. “Terrible things are happening, and no distinction is being made between civilians and fighters.”

The ECHO annual report for 2001 ‘Sustaining Hope in a Changing World’ notes that the European Union is among the biggest sources of humanitarian aid. In 2001, ECHO provided 480 million dollars in humanitarian funding, which is 25 per cent of the annual global total. Together with humanitarian aid provided by the EU member states directly, the European Union provides half the global humanitarian aid, the report says.

ECHO also stays committed to “forgotten crises” such as those in Angola, Western Sahara and the Horn of Africa, Nielson said. “There are still huge needs to be addressed, and it is vital that the international community maintain its commitment, even when the television cameras have moved on.”

According to the report, new policy guidelines adopted last year mean that ECHO focuses more now on its core mandate — providing immediate life-saving relief in emergencies. Costanza Adinolfi, Director of ECHO, said at the launch of the report that since June last year, ECHO has used simplified decision making procedures to react almost immediately to new emergencies.

“The new ‘primary emergency instrument’ involves the adoption of financing decisions within very strict deadlines of between 24 and 72 hours after the beginning of the crisis,” she says. The funds are channelled to partners who implement the operations.

In 2001 ECHO used the fast-rack procedure to meet immediate needs of victims of an earthquake in Peru, of air strikes in Afghanistan, of a hurricane which struck Belize and of floods in Algeria, the report says.

Kathrin Schick, Director of VOICE (Voluntary Organisations in Co-operation in Emergencies), a network of humanitarian organisations working with the European Union, said that ECHO’s partners are discussing a new agreement to provide a framework for ECHO-NGO relations for a five-year period starting January 2003.

The NGOs are also asking ECHO to exert more political pressure to obtain access for humanitarian aid workers, she said.

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