It is true that the refugees moved yesterday from the squalid camp at Idomeni on the sealed Macedonian border, the first of 8,000, will probably end up in somewhat better conditions in Greek state facilities to the south. And also good news that International Organisation for Migration can report a decline in the death rate of those who this year so far have tried to cross the Mediterranean. Some 1,370 migrants and refugees have perished at sea, but nearly 25 per cent fewer than in the same period last year.
And welcome that the US and Russia have agreed to drop food and emergency aid from the air to besieged cities in Syria if President Bashar Assad does not allow trucks to deliver supplies.
Yet, each of the above is really an appalling admission of abysmal failure, an acknowledgement of the possibility of only marginal improvement on the unacceptable, a clutching at straws. There is no sign on the horizon of agreement on permanent resettling of the refugees in European countries. Little wonder they feel abandoned by the west. No sign of an end to the deadly lottery of the Mediterranean crossings, or of successful Russian leverage on Assad to halt his murderous war.
In the face of such challenges – 125 million people worldwide require humanitarian assistance, including 60 million displaced from their homes – the UN has convened the first World Humanitarian Summit, currently underway in Istanbul. Attended by 57 heads of state and government, though only Angela Merkel of the G7 leaders – Ireland was represented by President Higgins and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Charlie Flanagan – the conference comes at a time when many would argue that the world humanitarian system is not only broke, but broken.
It will not, they say, be revived by a well-meaning talking shop pumping out nonbinding recommendations and targets. Medecins Sans Frontieres has pulled out of the conference, calling it “a fig leaf of good intentions”. But if the political will is lacking and action is not on the cards, perhaps words, if nothing else a call to action, are better than nothing. A first step to shaming the donors, to forcing the issue on to the world agenda.
The world spends $25 billion a year on humanitarian aid, $15 billion less than is required, according to the UN. In Istanbul, though new pledges were not forthcoming, an important agreement was reached between 21 donor countries and 16 aid organisations – including several UN agencies and the Red Cross – to reduce expensive administrative duplication and reduce overheads.
The deal, the “Grand Bargain”, should cut administration costs, put at around 15 per cent of aid agency budgets, by up to $1 billion a year and see more aid reach frontline aid workers. Donor states also committed to looking at how they can simplify their systems for distributing money and requirements for reporting how money is spent.