UN's Kachin relief program in funding crisis

Thousands of Kachin refugees living along the China border including this family pictured here in November 2011 remain without adequate food supplies because of government restrictions and a shortage of funding.  Photo: Kachin News Group

A spokesperson for United Nation's (UN) General Secretary Ban Ki-moon characterized the UN's humanitarian relief programs in Kachin state as experiencing a “serious funding shortfall”, the Democratic Voice of Burma reported on Monday. According to the UN's Eri Kaneko only $14.6 million of the $50.9 million the UN estimates that it needs for its Kachin relief program has been provided by donor countries so far (See here http://www.dvb.no/news/un-faces-%E2%80%98serious-funding-shortfall%E2%80%99-for-kachin-humanitarian-relief/30415]http://www.dvb.no/news/un-faces-%E2%80%98serious-funding-shortfall%E2%80%99-for-kachin-humanitarian-relief/30415 ).


Due to the shortage of funding the UN recently allocated $3 million “from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) under the Under-funded window,” towards the Kachin relief effort, reports DVB. But this is a stop gap measure which will not solve the long term funding crisis facing the UN's Kachin relief programs.

Kaneko told DVB that the CERF funding “is intended to fill critical gaps in humanitarian program to sustain operations, including needs associated with the current rainy season, while other funding sources continue to be identified.” It is unclear what other sources can be tapped as major donor countries including the US and Australia have so far preferred to spend their money on other projects across Burma instead of on Kachin relief.

The latest UN estimates put the number of internally displaced people in Kachin State at 85,600. Of that number approximately 35,000 are staying in camps located in government controlled areas while another 50,600 have taken shelter in camps located in territory controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).

According to the UN another 4,400 displaced people are staying in camps in government controlled areas of northern Shan state. This includes camps in Namkham, Namtu, Manton and Muse. All towns located close to the route of the Shwe pipeline project.

Aid workers who have recently visited Kachin state tell the Kachin New Group that the UN's IDP estimates may in fact be lower than the actual number of IDP because many displaced people in government areas are afraid to register. IDP living in camps in KIO territory have crossed into China in search of work and have not come back leading to a decrease in the number of people in non-government controlled camps. Few if any families displaced by the conflict have actually been able to return to their homes since in spite of a 5 point agreement being signed between the KIO and the Burma's government at the end of May which aimed to reduce tensions.

The IDP camps located in KIO territory remain poorly equipped due in part to serious restrictions imposed on the UN and other aid groups by Burma's government. The UN has been able to make only 11 aid convoys to camps in KIO territory since the Kachin conflict began in June 2011. The most recent UN visit occurred last month which was the first time the UN had been allowed to visit the KIO area IDP camps in nearly one year. UN staff conducted a needs assessment and brought some aid.

It is uncertain when the UN will be allowed however to continue aid visits to camps in KIO territory along the China border. The aid convoys that took place last year began after a series of negotiations involving Ban Ki-moon's special envoy to Burma Vijay Nambiar.

Responding to a question asked by Inner City Press reporter Matthew Russell Lee, Nambiar claimed shortly after his February 2012 visit to Burma that the UN had just concluded an agreement with Burmese government officials that would regular aid shipments to KIO territory.

“There was certain difficulties posed by the government's insistence that government supplies should also be accompanied,” Nambiar said at the time. It still took nearly another two months for regular aid convoys to begin shipping aid to KIO territory and then these were halted after July 2012 for reasons that remain unclear.

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