For Your Information: Prevention of Misappropriation of Humanitarian Aid (UNDP Topic B)
Humanitarian aid
provides essential post-natural disaster relief. However, corruption is a huge
problem in humanitarian aid as it often flows through unmonitored channels. Consequently,
it is hard to ensure that the aid given reaches its target audience as it is
hard to trace and track the handling of this aid in the midst of a national
crisis such as a natural disaster. For example, the aid could be stolen and
sent to the black market.
In recent years,
the humanitarian aid being sent to Uganda has been greatly misemployed. In
October 2012, aid from several countries in Europe have been transported to the
unauthorized charges of Ugandan Prime Minister Anama Mbabazi, leading to a
scandal that involved Uganda having to return all the monetary aid that it was
initially conferred. Uganda has consistently distributed its aid unequally even
though more than half of Uganda’s budget is funded through foreign humanitarian
aids. Civil war has continued endlessly for the past 2 decades between the
government and Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and over two million people have
been driven out and forced to live in terrible conditions. A majority of the
aid is being distributed unfairly according to regional differences. It is
apparent that Uganda has not learnt its lesson and continues to be one of the
most corrupt countries.
One of the most
severe natural disasters in history, Typhoon Haiyan, struck the Philippines and
wrecked havoc in the country, leaving it in need of much aid from the global
community. The recovery is predicted to be a long and slow one and there are
already concerns of corruption with regards to the humanitarian aid that she is
receiving. The donor organizations and the recipient country have to ensure
that the aid is not misused and that it reaches to those in need directly.
Misappropriation
in humanitarian aid is not an issue that will be solved overnight. Yet, we must
take small steps to solve the problem. Agencies have a set of common policies
that they implement to stem the risk of corruption. This system is called the
whistle blowing mechanism and is intended to allow a staff to communicate
confidentially with officials outside the immediate situation, to report
corrupt activities. However, the problem is that the staff is not familiar with
the processes involved and thus do not use it effectively and widely.
It is essential
to spread the policies controlling corruption to prevent it from happening. Simply
sending aid to needy countries during emergencies will not solve the problems
of corruption. Management of recipient countries also needs to be taken care
of. Agencies are also considering poor management as a problem and many have
put in human source managers in order to facilitate the flow of humanitarian
aid towards its target destination. Finally, improved monitoring and
accountability mechanisms are essential in the battle against corruption. Even though these measures do not cease
corruption immediately, it does slowly but surely tackle the problem at hand.
by Jenny Park
Photo courtesy of https://haitiquake-archive.unlb.org/Picture%20Library/Forms/DispForm.aspx?ID=526
