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* <코리아헤럴드> 11월 23일자에 실린 박수길 회원의 시론입니다.


The International Community Expects Korea’s Greater Participation in Humanitarian Assistance.

November 23, 2006

As South Korea projects growing influence in world affaires its responsibility as a middle power increases correspondingly. This responsibility extends from fighting terrorism, poverty eradication, the promotion of human rights, environmental protection to humanitarian assistance. I am very pleased to see that in the field of humanitarian assistance and human security South Korea has become a prominent donor to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF: 500million US dollars) launched in April this year by secretary-general Kofi Annan as part of his reform package to address critical humanitarian needs in emergencies. Korea’s participation in the CERF serves as a tangible demonstration of its commitment to save lives and alleviate suffering of the people devastated by violent conflict or natural disaster.

Timing matters, and never more so than in an emergency. Delays in assistance can spell the difference between life and death, as the residents of Beirut or the hundreds of thousands of traumatized and displaced people in Darfur know all too well. When disaster strikes, relief workers need immediate access to resources that can save lives and prevent further suffering. Thanks to the United Nations’ new initiative, aid agencies now have a tool that will help them do just this.
Given the increased number of global disasters, the CERF could not come at a better time, or serve a more useful purpose. From violence in the Middle East to droughts in Africa and the quake in Pakistan, recent crises have underscored the need for a more effective, timely and predictable global humanitarian system.

The CERF is an important step in this direction. Its goal is simple: within 72 hours, it provides aid workers with sufficient funding to jump start lifesaving relief operations when most lives are on the line and resources most needed. It also seeks to inject a much-needed element of equity into the “aid lottery” by allocating one-third of funds to humanitarian crises the world has forgotten or ignored. To date, a major portion of the CERF’s rapid response funds and its allocations for neglected crises have supported relief efforts in Africa, where humanitarian needs are greatest.

How is the CERF different from traditional funding mechanisms? First and foremost, it’s fast and focused, targeting the most urgent needs. Within 72 hours of a funding request from UN aid agencies, CERF monies can begin to flow to the humanitarian frontlines of sudden or neglected crises. The CERF’s rapid turnaround time is critically important. In an emergency, most lives are lost in the earliest moments, particularly after a natural disaster. Funds are needed in these early days to catalyze large-scale aid operations. But the wheels of even the best-intentioned donor bureaucracies do not turn quickly or cut checks overnight, leaving aid workers high and dry at precisely the moment when monies might do the most good.
Speed of funding is an issue even in high-profile crises where donor pledges often turn up late, or not at all. The cost of late funding is paid in lives. Take Darfur. Seven months after the UN launched its work plan for Sudan, only 47% of humanitarian requirements in Darfur are funded, with health, water and sanitation sectors averaging much less. When the food pipeline serving two million displaced people in Darfur threatened to close this spring on the eve of the lean or ‘hungry season’, the CERF helped fill the gap with a quick injection of funding to stave off immediate malnutrition.
Launched six months ago, the CERF has provided more than $100 million to 10 organizations for more than 150 projects in 20 countries. Most importantly, the Fund has helped save lives and alleviate the suffering of millions of people caught in the throes of conflict or affected by natural hazards. From the earliest days of the war in Lebanon, for example, CERF funds have played a critical role. A $5 million CERF grant in late July allowed aid agencies to buy desperately needed medicines for hospitals, and to mount a coordinated logistics operation that is helping aid agencies and NGOs reach those in gravest need from among the 800,000 people affected by the conflict.
Meanwhile, across the globe in the Horn of Africa, eight million people currently suffer from a major drought where diseases that cost less than one dollar to prevent, like measles, kill. CERF funding for immunizations and surveillance has helped prevent countless, unnecessary deaths among children in Kenya, Eritrea and Somalia and Djibouti. Across the Horn of Africa, $25 million in CERF funding has also supported emergency food, water and health care programs.
For crises like the Democratic Republic of Congo that have fallen off the world’s collective radar, CERF funds of nearly $17 million have contributed much-needed hope and healing. Perhaps nowhere in the world is the gap between humanitarian needs and available resources as large or as deadly as in the DRC, where 1,200 people die each day from disease, hunger and displacement. CERF monies have supported urgent food, health, water and sanitation services in some of the hardest-hit areas. To be sure, the CERF is not a panacea. Nor is it a substitute for regular, sustained donor contributions to the UN’s Humanitarian Appeals. Even if fully funded, the CERF still represents only a small portion of total humanitarian funding in 2006. But that small percentage has exponential impact in jumpstarting relief efforts, and provides the best possible return on investment: that of saving a life.

With $264 million in current pledges from 48 nations, local governments and private sector groups, the CERF is the world’s only truly multilateral fund, created by all nations for the benefit of all nations. The CERF depends on broad-based support from all Member States to reach its goal of $450 million in grant resources by 2008, in addition to the $50 million loan facility. The CERF’s governing Advisory Group, on which I serve, includes donor and recipient nations as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs). As advisors, we carefully review funding decisions to ensure the highest standards of management accountability and transparency. I was most pleased to see that South Korea has already contributed seven million US dollars to the Fund.

As we saw last year, no country, rich or poor, is immune from disasters. Now more than ever, the world needs an effective, timely and reliable humanitarian system. I urge the Korean government and Korean people to support the CERF annually at a level consistent with our means and influence. To my mind, this can be not only a good use of our nation’s resources but also a demonstration of our values to the global community. In this regard, the Korean people should also strongly support the government’s initiative to introduce the solidarity levy on air ticket in its effort to eradicate poverty and disease in the world.

<코리아헤럴드>

- 박수길 (고려대학교 석좌교수, 유엔한국협회 명예회장)