SWITZERLAND: Aid agencies and policy-makers should be driven by "real needs" rather than "events", the chairman of the Irish Red Cross, former minister for foreign affairs Mr David Andrews has said.
Speaking ahead of the publication today of the World Disasters Report 2003, which critiques trends in financing for the developing world, Mr Andrews said: "Our work has to be targeted at our fellow human beings who need our help. It is their needs that should determine what help we give and how we give it."
He said the report provided "a salutary lesson in how we, as aid agencies and policy-makers, must not allow ourselves to be driven by events, but rather must strive to inform and influence public opinion and the media about the very real needs that do exist whether in well-publicised wars, natural disasters, or wars which the international community fails to address."
Ms Carmel Dunne, general secretary of the Irish Red Cross, praised Ireland's record in funding both disaster-relief and development projects, noting that the Government "stood out among international donors in its thoughtful approach to allocating aid".
The report gives a contrasting example in the form of aid pledged by donors in Tokyo to Afghanistan. The vast bulk of it is "unwanted food aid which has distorted the agricultural economy", the report states.
In an article accompanying the publication, the body's director of disaster management, Mr Abbas Gullet, claims "increasingly, humanitarian aid is being guided by political agendas".
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