A chance to lead
Four of the world’s most desperate, godforsaken countries are facing what the United Nations calls the “biggest humanitarian crisis” in generations. Yet most of the globe can barely muster the energy to give it any notice.
In Somalia, northern Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen, more than 20 million people are threatened by famine. A cruel combination of drought and war threatens them with hunger, thirst and eventual starvation.
The UN has been banging the drum to draw attention to this slow-motion crisis, warning that money is urgently needed to stave off what is a largely man-made disaster. It says its humanitarian agencies must raise $4.4 billion (U.S.) by the end of March to confront the threat.
Seldom, though, has the world been less interested. Preoccupied with their own internal difficulties and fixated on the antics of the Trump administration, most countries have little time and less cash to spare for a crisis unfolding far, far away.
That is sadly reflected in contributions to the hat the UN is passing around for Somalia, Yemen and the other countries facing famine. As of late last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the world body had received less than a tenth of the money it needs — just $423 million (U.S.)
It’s a shameful response, but not a surprising one. War and civil conflict make the security situation so difficult in the affected countries that delivering aid is a high-risk activity.
In South Sudan, aid workers have been murdered and the UN says the government is spending oil revenue on weapons to battle its rivals while its people starve. And in Yemen, torn apart by war, two-thirds of the population needs immediate help.
Countries that traditionally provide the most help are less inclined to act. Chief among them is the United States, the biggest donor to the UN and usually the most generous contributor to international aid programs. The Trump administration, though, is radically uninterested; its proposed budget would slash foreign aid by more than 28 per cent.
To its credit, Canada has stepped up. The Trudeau government pledged just over $119 million to help avert starvation in the four affected countries, to be channelled through UN agencies and non-governmental humanitarian organizations. The money will go to provide food, clean water and basic health services.
This is good as far as it goes, but it won’t go very far toward meeting the enormous need. Canada can, and should, do more. Ottawa has earmarked $450 million for a peace mission (likely somewhere in Africa) that keeps getting postponed. It should consider redirecting some of that money to save people who can’t afford any more delay.