The 2011 and 2012 famine in Somalia was arguably the worst food security crises in recent times - 750,000 people were at risk of death. Although warnings of a drought came as early as August 2010, the international community’s delayed action contributed to the tragic result: over 260,000 people died, nearly half children. While the international community cannot be held solely responsible for the Somali famine, U.S. counterterrorism laws blocked humanitarian aid and peace-building organizations from action, going as far to render them inoperable. The result was a prolonged and exacerbated food security crisis. Under the Patriot Act, current laws restrict “material support” to groups designated as terrorists, criminalizing engagement, even in situations of humanitarian need. In humanitarian crises, aid and peace-building organizations providing “material support,” which qualifies as “training,” “expert advice or assistance,” “service,” and “personnel,” must first await a license from the U.S. Treasury Department, an often lengthy bureaucratic process. Kay Guinane, of Charity and Security Network, explains that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Famine Early Warning Systems Network anticipated the crisis in 2010. However, the U.S. government refused to grant aid licenses to areas controlled by Al-Shabaab, an armed insurgent group who control most of southern Somalia. By August 2011, the U.S. government issued limited licenses only for non-governmental organizations, qualifying them for USAID funding. Unfortunately, restrictions by counterterrorism laws blocked many other private resources of humanitarian aid, which failed to reach the hardest hit areas in Somalia. “There were private resources which might have been available, which were substantial, but couldn’t be used,” says Guinane. “The result was tragic.”
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 23:40:51 +0000
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