Press Room > Oxfam Ireland Press Release
January 10th 2005
“Show your hand”
Oxfam challenges Tsunami donors to deliver promised money
INTERNATIONAL agency Oxfam has welcomed confirmation from Germany that its $680 million donation to the tsunami relief appeal is “new” money that has not been diverted from other crises.
Oxfam is concerned that other donors, including the US ($350m), Japan ($500m), the UK ($96m), the World Bank ($250m), Norway ($181m), the EU ($529m) and Australia ($815m), may instead be “borrowing” from aid pledged to other crises including to the Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, or from money otherwise earmarked from development budgets.
In a new report published today, Oxfam calls on donors to give guarantees at the UN donors’ conference in Geneva tomorrow (Tues 11th) that their $4 billion worth of promises to help countries rebuild after the tsunami disaster are made up of new money.
Brian Scott , Oxfam Ireland’s Executive Director said: “It is crunch time for the rich world to make sure that the enormous goodwill they’ve shown is turned into hard cash that reaches the people who need it most. This is not time for empty rhetoric. The eyes of the world are on this meeting and we want guarantees that the aid will not be diverted from other disasters and other suffering people.”
In the report, The Asian Tsunami: The challenge after the Jakarta summit, Oxfam notes that donor pledges tend to fall short in the actual delivery – for example, in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch in Central America, less than a third of the $9bn promised materialised, while in Afghanistan in 2004, the US delivered only $200m of the $450m it promised.
The Irish Government has said that the €10 million it has pledged to the crisis is new money. 'It is very welcome that the Irish government has made its contribution additional to the current aid budget. It is important that the government build on this and moves us rapidly further forward to achieving the UN target of 0.7% of GNP on overseas aid.' Said Dr. Scott
Donors must not forget the 14 other humanitarian crises going on in the world, Oxfam says. They must make a ‘double humanitarian pledge’ – firstly to the victims of the tsunami by delivering upfront the $1bn requested by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the Jakarta summit last week, and secondly to the rest of the world by meeting the UN’s 2005 Humanitarian Appeal for $1.7bn. In 2004 only 63% of the UN’s Humanitarian Appeal was met.
The international community should also agree a moratorium on debt repayments to affected countries and the removal of trade tariffs on imports of textiles and clothing to the EU and US, especially from Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Scott says: “Debt relief and trade reform could both help enormously the countries affected by this unprecedented disaster. The Paris Club of donor countries should agree an immediate debt moratorium at its meeting on January 12 and explore the possibility of debt relief and even cancellation. The EU and the US should remove tariffs on textile and clothing imports so that the countries affected have a chance to help themselves by earning money from trade.”
In 2003, Sri Lanka paid $244m in duties on textiles and clothing to the USA and $77m to the EU. In the same year, Indonesia paid $426m and $180m respectively. The total duties on textiles and clothing imports paid to rich countries in 2003 of nearly $1bn could well exceed the aid given for tsunami relief.
Finally, the international community should harness the momentum of the tsunami response to make poverty history in 2005, with a package for poor countries including more and better aid, deeper debt relief and trade reform.
Scott: “The response to this disaster shows how capable the international community is when moved. Thirty thousand people die every day from poverty and disease around the world. The concerted aid effort generated by the tsunami demonstrates just how unnecessary these deaths are. With attention focused on the needs of developing world, and a series of meetings scheduled in the international calendar, 2005 is the year in which we can, and must, make poverty history.”
For more information, contact Paul Dunphy Oxfam Ireland's Press Officer on 01 6040706
Note to Editor:
In November 2004 the Irish Government announced its intention to renege on the pledge made by the Taoiseach at the Millenium Summit in September 2000 to achieve the UN target of spending 0.7% of Gross National Product on overseas aid (ODA) by 2007. On the Government's spending and growth estimates Government spending will be 0.43% of GNP in 2007. Oxfam estimates expenditure in 2004 will amount to 0.39% of GNP.
Further information from Oxfam International website here