The terrible Tsunami tragedy that transformed the shores of the Indian Ocean in both Asia and Africa, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and seriously affecting the livelihoods of millions of people in many countries, raises many challenges for civil society.
Whilst this disaster has caused great despair, the global wave of solidarity and public generosity that followed it offers hope amidst the destruction. The fact that two major continents, Asia and Africa, separated by thousands of miles, were both “united” by this disaster, also underscores the commonalities that people living in the global south endure today. Understandably the major focus is on Asia but some African civil society activists point out that because Africa is increasingly portrayed as a permanent disaster zone in the mainstream media, the impact of the Tsunami in several African countries went almost unnoticed.
While this was a "natural disaster", the effects and the impact is greatly exacerbated by extreme poverty for which governments both in the affected countries and in the rich world must take responsibility.
The substantial support now promised by governments is a direct result of pressure from the public and civil society organisations across the world. This demonstrates once again that when ordinary people unite across the world against injustice they can force world leaders to act.
Many have pointed out that the scale of resources offered by many rich country governments had to be quickly raised as citizens in those countries raised significantly more money than their governments were initially offering in Aid. While civil society organisations welcome the aid currently committed by the rich countries of the world, many are keen to point out that the scale of support is negligible when we look at the spending patterns of several rich country governments. For example, the UK government had initially committed 50 million pounds to Indian Ocean countries including Indonesia. However the UK government spent 650 million pounds in export credit guarantee money in the last six years for failed arm deals to Indonesia alone. Clearly, one of the roles of civil society is to encourage greater generosity but to raise the contradictions in aid patterns and the absence of political will.
A glaring example, right now, is to look at the amounts of money that was so quickly mobilised for the Iraq war, a war, according to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, that violates international law.
The financial pledges that have now been made need to become a reality. We must see the pledged money turned into real money and spent on ensuring that the rights of the poorest and most marginalised people are fulfilled. CIVICUS, as a member of the ‘Global Call to Action Against Poverty’ (www. whiteband.org), a world-wide alliance committed to pushing world leaders to live up to their promises, and to make a breakthrough on poverty in 2005), will work with its partners in monitoring this at every level. History here unfortunately tells a depressing story. For example, after an earthquake killed 30 000 in the Iranian city of Bam just over a year ago, several pledges were made, with only a small fraction being realized. Similarly, when floods devastated Mozambique a few years ago, much that was promised was not realised.
Many of the members of the ‘Global Call to Action against Poverty’ are actively working on the ground right now to help the people affected by the Tsunami. As the group notes in its statement “Relief is not enough and a return to the status quo would still leave the communities most affected by the Tsunami in poverty. We need a shift in national and international policies to eliminate poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
This includes trade justice, debt cancellation, a major increase in the quantity and quality of aid, and national anti-poverty efforts that are democratic, transparent and accountable to citizens”.
The form of the relief and development effort is as important as the amounts of money spent on it. Already members of the ‘Global Call to Action against Poverty’ have witnessed discrimination in the Tsunami response based on religious, caste, ethnic, economic and gender inequalities. Everyone involved in the Tsunami response has a duty to ensure that there is no discrimination at any level, that women and men are shown equal respect, and that all affected people, especially the poorest and most marginalised, are able to shape the relief and development effort carried out in their name. Particular attention must be paid to the protection of children.
In Asia where trafficking in women and children has reached horrendous levels, civil society groups are anxious to protect those that are now even more vulnerable.
All Tsunami aid must be additional and not at the cost of aid to the poorest countries, and just as the Tsunami necessitates debt cancellation in Asia, so too, argue many CSOs, does the HIV/AIDS pandemic necessitate debt cancellation in Africa.
Whilst the devastation following from the Tsunami has resulted in unprecedented media coverage, the weekly devastation wreaked on Africa, Latin America and Asia from continuing international inaction on debt, aid and trade is greater in scale. For example, it was deeply disappointing that while European citizens where offering overwhelming solidarity with the survivors of the Tsunami, the EU was increasing tariffs on imports from Thailand, one of the most affected countries.
Civil society groups in Europe this week denounced the EU’s actions as “criminal” and say it exposes the EU’s hypocrisy by offering aid to developing countries while raising trade barriers to protect inefficient European manufacturers.
Avoiding the daily effects of the ‘man-made Tsunami’ requires the same solidarity and determination in the global public response as shown in response to the ‘natural tsunami’. Earthquakes are unpredictable, but many of the deaths resulting from the Tsunami could have been avoided had a warning system been in place.
Similarly, we know that thousands of children will die this year from curable diseases and the livelihoods of millions of poor people will be affected by decisions on trade and global economic governance taken by the leaders of the world’s richest countries.
The challenge for civil society organisations is to ensure that we place the Tsunami and its impact in a broader global context, while simultaneously doing everything in our power to offer solidarity and support to the people whose lives have been devastated by these events.
Perhaps the most important challenges for civil society groups around the world right now are to draw on each other’s strengths, seek common ground while respecting differences and develop ways of working with governments to address the tragedy while maintaining our independence and autonomy. If the early signs of citizen response is anything to go by, even where its governments are hesitant, civil society should rise to meet these challenges.
Warmest regards,
Kumi Naidoo
Please do send your comments and suggestions to kumi@civicus.org.
