President Bashar Assad’s vile regime is fighting with every weapon it has, from tanks and rockets to ethnic cleansing. He is supported by imported Hezbollah militants sponsored by Iran. The fractious opposition Syrian National Coalition, in turn, relies on Islamist fighters with affinities to Al Qaeda. Both sides have committed war crimes. Meanwhile, the European Union has just given its blessing to shipping weapons to the opposition. And, ominously, Russia is supplying Assad with sophisticated S-300 missiles.
As Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government rightly feared, the prospects for Syria extricating itself from http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44960&Cr=syria&Cr1=&Kw1=syria&Kw2=aid&Kw3= grow dimmer by the day. American and Russian diplomats have spent weeks scrambling to broker a peace conference that neither side seems anxious to attend.
And compounding the misery, the United Nations and its partner agencies are short of funds to help the millions whose lives have been devastated. A $1.5-billion aid program from donor countries, including Canada, to cover the first half of this year has been used up and the UN plans to launch a new appeal this coming week. There’s an urgent and growing need for shelter, food, clean water, health clinics and schooling for stricken families in Syria itself, and for refugees in neighbouring Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.
This is a plea that should tug at Canadian hearts, and the Humanitarian Coalition has risen to meet it, launching on May 14 an urgent appeal by CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec, Plan Canada and Save the Children. These leading agencies, active in Syria and the surrounding region, have wisely pooled efforts to cut fundraising costs, end needless competition and keep the public alerted to pressing needs. Donors can give online at: humanitariancoalition.ca
Canadians are generous, as appeals for Haiti and drought-stricken East Africa have shown. While the fighting in Syria has overshadowed the humanitarian crisis, those most affected are “overwhelmingly regular civilians who want nothing more than to go about their lives, raise their kids in a safe environment, and have enough to eat,” coalition executive director Nicolas Moyer told the Star’s editorial board this week. Syrian lives “are on hold, and in danger, and refugees are in desperate need.”
Last year the coalition raised $3 million for Africa’s Sahel region, stricken by drought and food shortages. “That made an enormous difference in places where $50 can feed and monitor a malnourished child for three weeks,” Moyer said. “Every dollar will help save a life or reduce suffering.”
Canadian private donations also remind Ottawa that there’s a political constituency for generous aid.
As the Star has argued throughout this conflict, the Harper government has a heightened responsibility to help out on the humanitarian side, given its reluctance to recognize the Syrian Arab Spring opposition or to support arming them. Ottawa isn’t doing nearly enough.
The sheer scale of the UN’s needs argues for stepping up Canadian aid when the UN launches its upcoming appeal. So far Canada has contributed $48.5 million over two years. And unlike some governments, the Harper Conservatives deserve credit for delivering what they promise. But the government can and should do more.
If Syria’s need is reckoned by the UN to be $3 billion or more annually, Canada’s share over one year should be in the $90 million to $120 million range, calculated as our 3 per cent share of the UN budget or our 4 per cent share of all global aid. Those benchmarks reflect Canada’s relative national output and capacity to pay. That’s a far cry from $48.5 million, spread over two years. As private donors respond to the UN plea, Ottawa needs to raise its game.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Editorial
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