Brussels, 16/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - The presentation to the press of the 2001 review on Echo activities (the Community's humanitarian aid office) provided a further opportunity to Poul Nielson, European Commissioner for humanitarian aid, to recall that Echo especially intervenes to help the most vulnerable populations, victims of crises more often provoked by man than by nature, and to lay the blame on countries which flout the fundamental principles of humanitarian law. Forcefully denouncing the deliberate obstacles placed by Israel to access for humanitarian personnel to victims to be rescued in the Palestinian Territories, the Commissioner drew a parallel between the current situation in Jenine (on the West Bank) and that of Chechnya. "There is today an alarming tendency towards the growing violation of international humanitarian law. No circumstance can justify that. All States are held to respect the Geneva Convention. To refuse access to people who are desperately calling for aid is totally unacceptable. The ignore the inalienable rights of individuals to assistance is an attack on fundamental human values and a step backwards for humanity", he declared.
Noting that the problems met ion the West Bank were greater than in Chechnya, where humanitarian personnel especially run up against systematic red tape in granting work permits and the impossibility of using its telecommunications network, the Commissioner added: "The Israelis need convincing that access to victims must be guaranteed". Asked to speak about the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in Jenine, Poul Nielson said he did not know it exactly, humanitarian personnel having been prevented from having an precise idea of the reality. "It's another consequence of the denial of access to humanitarian organisations. The absence of a normal assessment of needs has only worsened the situation, as that harms an effective supply of aid (….) Access to victims is crucial, not only to help but to bear witness too", he declared. Last week, the Commission released 5 million euro for emergency food aid, but "the population needs everything", he considered. Regarding the opening of humanitarian corridors suggested by the Spanish Presidency of the Council, Poul Nielson stipulated that "in practice, it's exactly what we are trying to do…The convoi to Jenine is a temporary corridor", which, according to the Commissioner, could not be retained as permanent solution, for fear "of being trapped in a situation that we would recognise de facto, whereas it is induced by the Israelis". "Access is fundamental, access full stop" Nielson hammered home, firmly rejecting the idea of "conditional access". Regarding the destruction of Palestinian infrastructures, Poul Nielson declared: "There is no precise quantification of the damage, but it is important, no doubt about that. We hope that we shall have a Palestinian partner with whom to work, as a government would be". As to who would foot the bill, "that is pat of the moral pressure being applied on Israel, but I don't have many illusions", said the Commissioner.
To a journalist who questioned him on the effect of his appeal to the Israeli authorities to guarantee access to the victims, Poul Nielson regarded in "totally important" to mobilise public opinion. "To alert public opinion to exercise pressure on those who behave this way, is the first step. We also have direct contacts with the governments concerned", he assured before adding: "We do not have the instruments to have conventions respected. The only way, is to create waves".
The Commissioner thus warned against the dangers there would be for Echo of straying from its mission. "We must remain professional, stick to the basic brief: help those who suffer, otherwise we run the risk of playing politics rather than humanitarian mission", he declare, stipulating that the political aspects of external relations were the responsibility of his colleague Chris Patten.
Asked about the reasons that could explain the growing violations of international humanitarian law in the world, Poul Nielson answered that, according to him, they stemmed from "a type of conflict that goes back to doctrines of guerrillas who don't know the distinction between civilian and military, and thus deliberately take civilians hostage according to an increasingly frequent scheme that is different from traditional wars for which these rules of international law were established". He cited the phenomena of child soldiers (as in Sierra Leone) and the flow of displaced persons "who are refugees within their own country" as illustrations of these worrying trends.
According to the annual review on its activities, entitled "Maintaining hope in a changing world", Echo devoted close to 544 million euro to aid programmes to the benefit of 15 to 20 million people in over sixty countries (including ACP countries: 176.3 million, Asia: 109.4 million, the Western Balkans: 83.1 million, Middle East and North Africa: 61 million, republics of the former USSR: 58.4 million, Latin America: 38.3 million, etc.).
Poul Nielson mentioned the Echo contributions drawn upon during natural disasters (earthquakes in India and El Salvador, droughts in Africa, Asia and Latin America but principally for the avoidable manmade tragedies (Afghanistan, Chechnya, Palestine, Colombia, Sudan, the Congo, Burundi, Angola Sahraouri refugees in Algeria). In an effort to mitigate the sad picture of persistent conflicts that justified ECHO's interventions in 2002, Poul Nielson gave a run-down on the positive developments in Sierra Leone, the Balkans and East Timor.