Myanmar Disaster Relief Highlights Moral Quandaries
May 12th, 2008 • Posted in: NewsAmong the questions: Should relief workers bow to demands of abusive and secretive government?
BANGKOK, Thailand
The cyclone devastation in Myanmar last week focused attention not only on the practical aspects of recovery from the ravages of a cyclone, but also on the moral issues attendant to the obstructionism of the nation’s insular, dictatorial government.
As of late last week, some estimates put the number of dead at roughly 22,000, with about 41,000 missing.
Aid organizations have found their work hampered by restrictions imposed by Myanmar’s government, which is suspicious of outsiders and incapable of handling the logistics of disaster relief, reports CNN.
In Myanmar, also known as Burma, it is difficult for aid agencies to obtain permission to begin operations, and disaster relief supplies often are confiscated by the government. Also, relief workers are forced to operate under stringent guidelines, and those who disobey find themselves the target of harassment.
The U.K. Guardian’s Conor Foley reports that humanitarian organizations face a wrenching ethical dilemma when confronted with such circumstances: “Countries such as Burma and North Korea, where the [World Food Programme] … has a large program, pose a real dilemma for humanitarian agencies about how far they should be prepared to accept such restrictions in the interests of the people they are trying to help. When Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban, some humanitarian agencies, such as Oxfam, suspended their programs rather than comply with the Taliban’s anti-women edicts. Oxfam eventually concluded this had been a mistake that had caused greater suffering to ordinary Afghans, but there clearly is a tension of conflicting principles in such situations.”
Analysts say one reason Myanmar has clamped down on foreign aid workers is that leaders of the ruling junta worry that others would be given credit for the nation’s recovery.
But as the International Herald Tribune notes, government forces are largely absent from the cleanup: “Where are all those uniformed people who are always ready to beat civilians?” asked one man, who refused to be identified. “They should come out in full force and help clean up the areas and restore electricity.”
The spectacular failure of the nation’s government, reports TIME, is leading to another moral dilemma: whether to invade Myanmar in order to save it. Some, including former USAID director Andrew Natsios, have called on the United States to begin air drops in defiance of the junta’s orders.
The United States has engaged in similar actions in the past, most notably in Bosnia and Sudan. But former U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland says such coercive aid carries enormous risks. “You have to think it through — do you want to secure an area of the country by military force? What kinds of potential security risks would that create? I can’t imagine any humanitarian organization wanting to shoot their way in with food,” he told TIME.
Sources: International Herald Tribune, May 10 — TIME, May 10 — Guardian, May 10 — CNN, May 9.
For more information, see: Related Newsline story, July 24, 2006 — Related Newsline story, July 24, 2006 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 2, 2006 — Related Newsline story, Dec. 5, 2005 — Related Newsline story, Oct. 31, 2005.
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