Saving Lives Is About Humanity, Not Politics
By Acting USAID Deputy Administrator John Barsa
One year into the greatest global health crisis of our lifetime, humanitarian need around the world is the highest it has been in decades and is expected to rise.
The United Nations (UN) reports that 235 million people will need life-saving food, medicine, shelter, and other essentials in the next year, a nearly 40 percent increase from 2020. There is no doubt the COVID-19 pandemic has impeded the march of human progress. Countries facing protracted conflict and severe food insecurity, are now wrestling with backsliding of the provision of essential health care as well as mounting economic crises, and, in many countries, the erosion of democratic freedoms in the name of pandemic responses. In countless places around the world, it is simply too much to bear.
The United States has long been the global leader in addressing rising humanitarian needs, and ensuring that human life and dignity and our national security are protected. We have provided $140 billion in health assistance over the past two decades, and $70 billion in humanitarian assistance in the last decade alone. However, we simply cannot save lives when governments attempt to politicize aid to gain control over their citizens. It undermines fundamental humanitarian principles and the very fabric of American values. The United States will not stand by as unforgiving regimes try to play politics with the lives of their citizens.
Unfortunately, the global health crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated democratic backsliding while spurring authoritarian actors to use the crisis to further consolidate their power.
Recently, certain regimes seem to have either forgotten their commitment to humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence — or are blatantly renouncing them all together. Instead of allowing aid agencies to replenish food and medicine stocks to keep people alive, authoritarian leaders try to use aid as a political pawn in their struggle for power. Unrestrained by democratic checks — to include the legislative and judicial branches, civil society, or the media — these leaders openly try to use aid to further political objectives. In doing so, human lives perish or hang in the balance.
We are seeing this play out in Venezuela. The Maduro regime has grossly mismanaged the Venezuelan economy, emptying the coffers of what was once one of the wealthiest nations in Latin America. Today, roughly 7 million Venezuelans desperately need humanitarian aid in the country. Even while one in three Venezuelans are undernourished, Maduro refuses to allow unfettered access for international aid groups to bring emergency food and other assistance into the country and harasses aid workers who are there.
Rather, Maduro is exploiting the nation’s hunger to maintain his grip on power. And if there is any doubt, it is worth remembering that ahead of the sham parliamentary elections last month, a high-ranking figure in Maduro’s regime told the Venezuelan people, “Those who don’t vote, won’t eat.” Their immoral and malevolent intent cannot be more clear.
Ten years into the Syrian conflict, Bashar al-Assad continues to use starvation, blockades of assistance, and fear to force the Syrian people into submission. Assad’s regime has consistently sought to deny access to areas it views as sympathetic to or controlled by the opposition, and has repeatedly targeted hospitals and aid workers.
For example, in the Rukban displacement camp near the Syria-Jordan border, access to humanitarian aid is tightly controlled by Damascus. Since the Syrian regime views Rukban residents as supporters of the Syrian opposition, Assad, with the full support of Russia, blocks critical aid from reaching the camp. Meanwhile, many families in Rukban are living on one meal per day.
In South Sudan, the humanitarian crisis is the result of decades of political violence and neglect. Tens of thousands of people face life-threatening hunger, and famine is likely in some areas.
While the majority of people in South Sudan are suffering, hunger is affecting the most vulnerable groups — especially children — most severely.
Unfortunately, the Government of South Sudan does not provide a favorable environment for aid delivery. It continues to block aid to affected areas and has refused to fully accept this dire food crisis. Moreover, attacks on aid workers themselves must cease. South Sudanese authorities must provide security to aid workers and thoroughly investigate any attacks that occur.
Autocratic leaders must stop playing politics with people’s lives. And the long-standing bi-partisan approach of not allowing the politicization of humanitarian assistance is absolutely the proper policy. Now more than ever, with the world reeling from the COVD pandemic and autocrats and dictators attempting to take advantage of human suffering, the international community must join the United States and take a stronger stance against the politicization of humanitarian aid.
About the Author
John Barsa is the Acting Deputy Administrator of USAID.
