FrontLines WWW. USAID.GOV JUNE 2010 INSIDE InterAction T H I S I S S U E Forum New educational opportunities are Woitschützke A. opening for Serbs. See page 6. by Debates Aid Photo By Ben Barber This Serbian high school student recently visited Germany through a stu- WASHINGTON—Hun- AFP dent exchange program. dreds of foreign aid workers Zaman, from major U.S. NGOs and uz aid agencies that belong to FRAMEWORK OBJECTIVES: Munir by the InterAction coalition Peace and Security met at the Washington Con- Photo Can aid groups protect the people they serve? . SEE PAGE 2 Bangladesh is one of 20 countries to receive aid under the $3.5 vention Center June 2-4 to billion Feed the Future initiative led by USAID. Here, a Bangladeshi debate the methods, poli- Governing Justly and Democratically laborer winnows rice grains on the outskirts of Dhaka. cies, goals, and rationale of Saving Africa’s diamond miners from poverty U.S. foreign assistance. and exploitation . .SEE PAGE 16 $3.5B U.S. Hunger Plan to “In the past three years, 80 InterAction members Investing in People Feed 40 Million People have put more than $8 bil- Women admissions to judicial institute in Jordan By Angela Rucker lion of U.S. taxpayer rise from 3 percent to 65 percent . SEE PAGE 7 resources through USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah foundation for peace and oppor- Economic Growth into work on behalf of, announced on May 20 a wide- tunity, and therefore, our own USAID provides $55 million in agricultural really, the poorest and most ranging plan to revamp agricul- national security,” Shah said in vulnerable people in the aid to southern Sudan . .SEE PAGE 13 tural assistance in developing announcing the initiative at a world,” said Administrator Humanitarian Assistance countries and address the grow- forum in Washington hosted by Rajiv Shah in a keynote Flooding and volcanic eruption strike ing problem of world hunger. the Chicago Council on Global address at the InterAction The Feed the Future initiative Affairs. Guatemala . SEE PAGES 8-9 2010 Forum. calls for investing at least $3.5 The initiative’s formal “In many cases, InterAc- billion over three years to fight announcement comes almost tion members put their lives hunger and malnutrition in 20 one year after President Barack on the line and take great focus countries in Africa, Asia, Obama, during his first G8 Sum- risks in doing this work,” and Latin America. If it works as mit in L’Aquila, Italy, pledged to said Shah. In 2008 alone, planned, Feed the Future will aid reverse years of shrinking aid there were 62 humanitarian 40 million people over the next budgets for agriculture in poor workers kidnapped, he noted. 10 years with food and other countries. Obama said that USAID and InterAction benefits. wealthy countries would pool members are “very much in “We know agricultural devel- together at least $18.5 billion to this together, and I see the opment is a springboard for make this happen. opportunity to visit with broader economic development InterAction as a bit of a USAID and we know food security is the see HUNGER on page 12 family reunion,” Shah said. The forum included a Gohmann, discussion of aid broadcast Anna by Clinton Calls for Unified U.S. live on National Public Photo Radio’s Kojo Nnamdi Show. Rep. Gerald E. Connolly Emergency aid to Haiti continues following the Jan. 12 earthquake. Approach to Aid Here, channels dug underneath roads and walkways allow water to (D-Va.) told the forum: “I’m wash away from shelters. See story on page 5. Secretary of State Hillary Speaking as the Obama old enough to remember Rodham Clinton has renewed a administration released its first justification for bilateral aid call for greater cooperation national security strategy, Clin- programs based on the Cold U.S. Agency for International Development PRSRT STD among defense, diplomacy, and ton said U.S. “overriding objec- War. All of that rationale ... Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs development to advance U.S. tives” are “security, prosperity, Washington, D.C. 20523-6100 Postage and Fees has collapsed.” He noted goals in the coming years. the explanation and spread of Penalty for Private Use $300 PAID USAID that Congress is working to Official Business Permit No. G-107 “One of our goals coming our values, and a just and sus- revise the 1961 Foreign into the administration was to… tainable international order.” Assistance Act. begin to make the case that She noted that efforts to unify “American foreign aid defense, diplomacy, and develop- diplomacy, development, and has also become increas- ment were not separate entities… defense faced some “resistance ingly fragmented among they had to be viewed as part of in our government” and among various departments and an integrated whole,” she said in international experts. a speech May 27 at the Brook- see FORUM on page 14 ings Institution in Washington. see CLINTON on page 14 page 2 INSIDE DEVELOPMENT Aid Groups Debate: Can They Protect the People They Serve? This article first appeared May 24 on the website of the U.N. news agency, IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks). It is reprinted here with IRIN’s permission and edited for space by FrontLines. When people are driven from their homes by to survival, development, and internationally binding legal treaty, other in the field. If we all did fighting or persecution, what they need most of all well-being,” but UNICEF also but our work is mainly based on the same thing, our services signs up to a broader, rights-based the 1988 guiding principles. would not be wide enough. is protection. Since World War II, the United inter-agency definition of protec- The protection cluster’s 40 or A: Menikdiwela, UNHCR— Nations has provided protection by giving out cer- tion through the protection cluster. so members have adopted a defini- Whatever category of assis- tificates that recognize people as refugees entitled Whenever you engage with tion, which defines protection as tance you use relates to funda- to asylum. governments or non-state actors “all activities aimed at respecting mental human rights, which is on protection of civilians against the rights of the individual in protection. You can’t scrap it. But when people are driven from their homes yet harm or abuse, you always have accordance with letter and spirit of Each agency interprets the remain inside their home countries, they are consid- to have in mind their account- all relevant bodies of law, includ- parameters through their own ered “displaced persons” and find it harder to get ability. You are there to assist ing international humanitarian law, lens: UNICEF through child protection. them, to see how they will pro- international human rights law, or protection, OHCHR through tect people from abuse. international refugee law.” human rights protection, Some aid groups and human rights advocates say You can’t … be the agency UNHCR as refugee protection. people should have protection from child abuse, taking on those responsibilities. Q: Since few agencies have the The value of these mandates lie rape, hunger, and disease—a protection that widens In Haiti, when there was no same notion of what “humani- in their diversity. the meaning of the term and may be far beyond the police force up and running, and tarian protection” means, We are clearly a long way displaced people were experienc- should it be scrapped alto- from being perfect entities, but ability of any agency to provide worldwide. ing abuse, we could not just stand gether? Should agencies just there are merits to diversity. For example, in Rwanda, the international com- by and do nothing, but we tried label the activities that make it The challenge is to ensure all munity proved unable to protect some 800,000 peo- to build the capacity of remaining up—mental health support, protection responses encompass ple murdered in a genocide against Tutsis in 1994. police forces to address it. documentation of human rights different aspects ... [and] dis- In Sri Lanka, we advocated abuses, and the like? placed people, women at the The following article debates the extent to which for the release of children in the A: DuBois—There is no need to risk of sexual violence, and protection is or can ever be a real human right. government armed forces, but we scrap it. The term works inter- unaccompanied children are all — B.B. wouldn’t start sending supplies to nally for us, and we do break pro- covered in a crisis. strengthen police forces, or hand tection into projects. We know The U.N. refugee agency of international protection ser- out money that could be used to what we mean by humanitarian Q: What do you see as being UNHCR (United Nations High vices at UNHCR. fuel conflict. It’s a thin line we protection, it is just not what the the biggest protection gaps? Commissioner for Refugees) tread. public understands by it. They A: Forbes, World Vision— and the International Commit- Q: How do you define your A: Bill Forbes, World Vision— think it is mainly provision of From a child protection per- tee of the Red Cross (ICRC) organization’s protection role World Vision is committed to physical safety: when the armed spective, I would say that have been protecting civilians and where its protection limits doing everything possible to forces stop bad people doing bad exploitation through labor, vio- for decades. lie? ensure that our activities do not things to good people. lence in the home, and harmful But protection by aid agen- A: Marc DuBois, MSF UK—We put children at risk.