A new international think tank report argues that the success of post-Nargis international aid operations demands a rethinking of Burmese aid policies by foreign governments predisposed to an approach of isolation with respect to Naypyitaw.
The International Crisis Group (ICG), in a 45-page report released on Monday, sites the documentation of successful and accountable aid operations to cyclone afflicted regions of Burma as evidence that an enhanced aid policy on the part of the broader international community could eventually be used to confront other crises in governance pervasive throughout the troubled country.
"The international community should build on the unprecedented cooperation between the Myanmar [Burma] government and humanitarian agencies following cyclone Nargis and reverse longstanding, counterproductive aid policies," according to ICG.
"Political reform remains vital but withholding aid has done nothing to promote this", adds John Virgoe of ICG. "Aid is valuable in its own right for alleviating suffering, as well as a potential means of opening up a closed country, improving governance and empowering people to take control of their own lives".
The report goes on to assess that a restrictive aid policy may have been prudent in the late 1980s, when a drastic change in leadership and national institutions appeared likely. However, ICG states that such an approach is now outdated, with the military government firmly in control and in the face of near non-existent civilian institutions.
While ICG acknowledges that the relief response of Burma's military leaders was deplorable in the first weeks after Nargis struck in early May, stating that "much of what the government actually tried to do to help the survivors was undermined by lack of communication, petty corruption and sheer incompetence," it insists that rehabilitation endeavors and relations between authorities and aid agencies, likely needed for several years to come, now function as they would in any other country.
Yet, despite criticizing the early efforts of the government, the report also points to factors on the ground and the Western-led policy of isolation against Burma and its ruling class as additional impediments to the establishment of an effective relief operation.
Postulating that two decades of stringent restrictions on aid weakened the capacity of the country to respond to the devastation wrought by Nargis, ICG claims Western government actions in the immediate days and weeks following the storm only worsened the situation.
The reports' authors single out U.S. First Lady Laura Bush's public denouncement of the junta only two days after the storm and her insistence on linking the situation to a call for democratic governance in Burma, along with the U.S., Britain and France's decision to send naval vessels to the region to conduct relief operations, as especially debilitating to any hoped for rapid reaction on the part of Burma's military government.
"Political reform," contends the international think tank, "remains vital and should continue to be the subject of high-level international diplomacy and pressure. But it is a mistake in the Myanmar [Burma] context to use aid as a bargaining chip, to be given only in return for political change."
"Aid alone will not bring sustainable human development, never mind peace and democracy," further cautions Robert Templer, ICG's Asia Program Director. "Yet, due to the limited links between Myanmar [Burma] and the outside world, aid has unusual importance as an arena of interaction among the government, society and the international community."
In the estimation of ICG, a greatly enhanced aid policy, in addition to proving a stepping stone for eventual cooperation and change in other aspects of governance, would facilitate the development of civil society in Burma, empower local communities, provide education in necessary skills and at least partially relieve the country's severe economic hardship.
Recognizing that vast reform within the aid community in Burma will require cooperation and adaptation from multiple actors, not the least of which is Burma's government, ICG recommends that Western governments refrain from imposing further punitive measures, lift political restrictions on aid and repeal sanctions that hurt vulnerable sections of Burmese society, including those directed at the garment industry, tourism and agricultural and fishery products.
Ultimately, ICG, while understanding of the reaction of many people to call for a hard line approach to the poor leadership record of Burma's ruling generals, determines that "reinforcing the regime's isolation will do little to help resolve the country's complex social, political and economic crisis."
Compared to countries in somewhat similar situations, ICG estimates that Burma receives twenty times less aid than what might otherwise be expected. And the end result, according to the reports' authors, is a policy that has effectively "weakened, not strengthened, the forces for peace and democracy."
