The cost of war:
Billions for development diverted to emergencies
Wars are doubly destructive, shattering lives and societies and also forcing
reallocation of resources that could be used for longer-term development.
Sorely needed development aid has been increasingly shifted to emergency
assistance during the past decade—and even resources for emergency aid
have fallen short of people's needs.
Government allocations for peace-keeping and contributions for emergency
humanitarian assistance (most of it due to war rather than natural disasters)
increased fivefold, from less than $2 billion in 1985 to nearly $10 billion
in 1994, reflecting an upsurge in conflicts that have had a devastating
impact on civilians, especially children.
Despite this dramatic increase, contributions to UN agencies for emergency
aid have consistently fallen short of the amounts requested. During 1992-1996,
donors’ response to UN emergency appeals fell short by an average of 28%.
Of the appeals for 14 countries in 1996 and early 1997, contributions for
13 countries fell short of the amounts required. The request for aid to
Iraq had the greatest shortfall, almost 60%.
UNICEF and other agencies strive to integrate emergency programmes into
longer-term development efforts, providing immunizations, for example,
and 'school-in-a-box' kits so that children can continue learning. Despite
these efforts, however, conflicts undermine development.
In 1985, allocations for emergency aid and peace-keeping were equivalent
to 5% of total development aid from industrialized countries. By 1994,
these allocations had reached over 16% of their total aid. This means that
tens of billions of dollars that could have been available for long-term
development have been shifted to help alleviate the human costs of war.
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| Source: OECD, Development
Co-operation (1994 and 1996 reports). |
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