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Contributions from
the Column
Facts and trends
“Relief demands the highest professional standard”
53 journalists killed
More money for
population issues
Sudanese rebel leader
John Garang becomes vice president
An action plan for the millennium goals
World Bank: Wolfensohn steps down
Malloch Brown new
chef de cabinet at UN
02/2005
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[ Germany’s Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul ]
“Relief demands the highest professional standard”
The flood disaster on the shores of the Indian Ocean defies imagination: more than 200,000 dead in ten countries, vast areas of land devastated as if by a nuclear explosion. Similarly unparalleled is the volume of international aid pledged for the survivors. By late January, the United Nations had registered commitments amounting to 3.5 billion US dollars. In addition, hundreds of millions of dollars are pouring in from private donors. International humanitarian aid faces one of its greatest challenges. German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul discussed the situation with D+C/E+Z.
Do you think the catastrophe will serve to boost development funding significantly in the long run?
First and foremost, the tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean is a massive human tragedy. It is the immense suffering that has triggered such a generous public response in Germany and prompted the Federal Government to provide help immediately. We are helping because the people need help fast – and not because it could have implications for development funding. However, this catastrophe does highlight the need to take international disaster relief and prevention more into account when planning our budget. Apart from the flood disaster, our targets are clear. The Federal Government has agreed to set aside 0.33 percent of gross national income for international development cooperation in 2006. We will meet those targets. If we get our way, we’ll raise the share to 0.5 percent by 2010 and move on to 0.7 percent after that.
What can be done to ensure that international assistance strengthens the affected regions’ capacity to help themselves? What role do local initiatives and structures play?
As in our development cooperation in general, we are seeking cooperation with non-governmental organisations and local initiatives in the Indian Ocean region. And we are providing help for self-help. The people want to rebuild their countries themselves. But they need our help to do so. One focus, for example, will be on supporting fishermen, so they will be able to make a living from fishing again. That would be impossible without boats, nets and port facilities. Primarily, however, we are working to ensure that children get a roof over their head again, that they get clean drinking water, that they can go to school and that they have access to psychosocial services if they need them.
The big donors are locked in a veritable race to show who is the most generous. Are political motives involved?
As Germany’s former Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher rightly said: an aid race is better than an arms race. We are helping because people are patently in need. An achievement-rich country like Germany should help where it can. That is what we are doing.
There have been natural disasters in the past – Hurricane Mitch, for example, in late 1998 in Central America, or the earthquake at Bam in Iran in late 2003. In both cases, the international community promised generous aid but then failed to honour some of its commitments. What can be done to ensure that the aid pledged now will actually flow?
The Federal Government has always honoured the pledges it has made. It did so in the case of Hurricane Mitch, and it did so after the Bam earthquake. And it will do so again now. But that cannot be said of all donors. The United Nations has announced measures to ensure transparency. I think that is a good thing.
Aid organisations have expressed concern that the German contribution for the tsunami victims might be at the expense of other development programmes.
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has pledged that 500 million Euros will be earmarked for the flood victims over the next three to five years. That means Germany will really be making a substantial contribution to reconstruction – especially in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, where the damage is greatest. In the years ahead, these funds will be identified when the budget is drawn up. This year, they will be disbursed from our general budget. It is quite clear that the assistance we provide for people in the Indian Ocean region must not be at the expense of other regions. That is why we need extra money – and that is the spirit in which the cabinet decision was taken.
Might debt relief be included in the 500 million?
First of all, the countries themselves need to say whether they want debt relief. Basically, we would be talking about debt moratoria, so countries can spend their money on what is most urgently needed, reconstruction. But it looks as if only Sri Lanka will go for this option. As debt repayment will only be deferred and redemption is set to resume in later years, there will be no impact on Germany’s federal budget.
What can be done to make sure the massive sums of aid are put to coherent, effective use? Is it possible at all to coordinate the vast number of actors providing services in the disaster area now?
That is an important point – a point we are giving much thought. The financial pledges are impressive, but the donor community will have to make sure that implementation is coordinated properly and according to the highest professional standards. No one but the United Nations can provide the coordination required for delivering such emergency relief. With regard to reconstruction, countries act primarily on their own responsibility. As for coordination on the economic front, the World Bank will play a central role and all donors must act in a coordinated manner.
In some of the countries affected – in Indonesia, for example –, corruption is causing major problems. What can be done to prevent money from ending up in the wrong hands?
I have spoken to the Indonesian foreign minister and addressed the problem of corruption in very frank terms. After all, corruption is nothing but stealing from the poor in the final analysis. I believe that Transparency International, for example, and its local organisations could help monitor the distribution of aid in the countries affected. We, as the Federal Government of Germany, will ensure through our implementing agencies that the money really does reach the people who are in need. And that is why we are not providing budget support. I am sure the other donors and aid organisations will take a very similar line.
Questions by Hans Dembowski and Tillmann Elliesen.
Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul
is Federal Minister for Ecomomic Cooperation and Development.
http://www.bmz.de
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