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DEVELOPMENT AID
Since the establishment of the
United Arab Emirates, the country has played an active role in the
provision of aid to developing countries and has been a major
contributor of emergency relief to regions affected by conflict and
natural disasters. The philosophy behind the aid policy is two-fold Ð
first, a belief that help for the needy is a duty incumbent on all
Muslims and, second, that part of the country's wealth from oil and gas
should be devoted to helping other countries that have been less
well-endowed. The philosophy was well-described by former UAE President
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan:
Foreign aid and assistance is one of the basic
pillars of our foreign policy. For we believe that there is no true
benefit for us from the wealth that we have unless it does not also
reach those in need, wherever they may be, and regardless of their
nationality or beliefs. That is why we have ensured that our brothers
and our friends have shared in our wealth.
One major initiative, launched by Vice President and
Prime Minister HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in October, was
the 'Dubai Cares' campaign, which seeks to provide primary education for
at least a million school children in the poorest countries of the
Middle East, Africa and Asia. By late November, Dh1.7 billion had been
donated by public and private sector organisations, as well as by
individuals. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum matched the sum of
money raised, ensuring that the total reached Dh3.4 billion.
Following an agreement reached between Sheikh
Mohammed and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the campaign will be
carried out in association with a British Government initiative also
aimed at promoting primary education in developing countries.
The focus of the country's emergency relief
programme during the latter part of 2006 and the first half of 2007 was,
not surprisingly, on Lebanon and Palestine.
Following the devastating Israeli aerial bombardment
of Lebanon and invasion of the south of the country in the summer of
2006, President HH Sheikh Khalifa directed that substantial aid should
be provided to help the sisterly Arab country recover from the damage
caused by the attacks and the ensuing displacement of hundreds of
thousands of men, women and children. A major US$300 million soft loan
programme was announced by the UAE during the January 2007 Lebanon
donors' conference in Paris, to supplement aid provided earlier.
Individual projects have also been funded by a number of UAE agencies,
including the Red Crescent Authority, The Zayed Foundation for
Charitable and Humanitarian, The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Charity
and Humanitarian Foundation and other bodies operating under the aegis
of the UAE Project for Supporting and Reconstructing of Lebanon. The
help included extensive work to repair houses, schools and other
facilities. Over 250 schools were rebuilt or repaired, while the UAE
Government also donated funds to ensure that 400,000 schoolchildren at
government schools would be able to obtain the books they needed for
their study in the 2006/2007 academic year. As a result the academic
year was able to get under way without delay.
One major project undertaken by the UAE Red Crescent
was a new hospital in the rural Shiba'a area, which will provide
healthcare services to over 35,000 people, who previously had to travel
over 70 kilometres to reach specialised medical care.
The Zayed Foundation donated US$200,000 for new
equipment at the Dar Al Shifa hospital in Tripoli, US$100,000 to the
children's cancer hospital at the American University of Beirut and US$2
million to Al Manar University, Tripoli, for the building of a Sheikh
Zayed library for its students. Other aid provided to Lebanon included
diesel generators for villages without electricity supply, repairing of
fishing ports and healthcare centres.
The UAE Armed Forces also worked closely with the
United Nations on the clearing of newly-laid minefields and the removal
of unexploded cluster bombs and other munitions in the south of the
country, in many areas revisiting land that had previously been cleared
of mines under another UAE initiative following the withdrawal of
Israeli ground forces from Lebanon several years ago.
The outbreak of fighting near Tripoli, in June and
July 2007, also prompted further relief assistance from the UAE to
people who had been forced to flee to escape the conflict. By late July,
seven deliveries of relief supplies, including food and medicines, had
been handed over by the UAE Red Crescent to Palestinian aid committees
in the Badawi Refugee Camp and the villages of Tebnin, Al Minyeh and
Bahneen.
Continuing support has also been given to the people
of Palestine, whose needs have been exacerbated both by the boycott of
the Palestinian Authority by the international community during the
period up to June 2007, and by subsequent disputes between the PA's
President and Prime Minister.
Recognising the Authority's urgent need for funds to
pay salaries and to keep essential services working, President HH Sheikh
Khalifa ordered in December 2006 that US$30 million should be given to
the Authority.
Early in 2007, the UAE Red Crescent completed its
biggest project to date in Palestine, the Dh100 million (US$27.2
million) reconstruction of the Jenin refugee camp. Besides repairing
4000 homes damaged during Israeli military activity, the project also
included the building of over 450 new housing units, a girls' high
school, a large mosque, healthcare facilities and associated
infrastructure. Other major projects have included the Sheikh Zayed
Centre in Jerusalem, housing complexes in Gaza and Beit Lahia and the
Sheikha Salama bint Butti eye hospital in Nablus.
The Mohammed bin Rashid Foundation, established by
the UAE's Vice President and Prime Minister, also completed schools,
hospitals and medical centres in the Palestinian West Bank. Further
support was provided during the year to the two key United Nations
agencies working in the West Bank and Gaza, the UN Development
Programme, (UNDP) and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees (UNRWA). Overall, the UAE Red Crescent and other UAE bodies
have now contributed over Dh2 billion (US$544 million) to humanitarian
projects in Palestine. Help has also been provided through the UAE Red
Crescent to Palestinian refugees in Syria, with the construction of a
girl's school at a refugee camp near Damascus. The project was
undertaken in association with the UNRWA and cost nearly US$800,000.
Also in Syria, the Red Crescent financed the
construction of 110 housing units and the rehabilitation of healthcare
facilities at a Palestinian refugee camp near Aleppo, again in
association with UNRWA. A key focus of the UAE's international
humanitarian relief operations has always been the desire of the UAE's
own agencies to collaborate with other national and international
agencies, not just in the provision of funds but also in terms of joint
operations on the ground, to avoid duplication of effort and the waste
of resources.
Much of the collaborative effort, of course, is
undertaken with the various agencies of the United Nations and in
mid-2007 the UAE Red Crescent agreed on a methodology for cooperation
with the United Nations Office for Project Services, (UNOPS), which is
responsible for providing urgent technical, logistical and
administrative support to other UN programmes. The two bodies will now
work to devise more efficient ways of targeting the delivery of relief
aid to those affected by natural and other disasters as well as, more
generally, those in need in Africa and Asia. The UAE Red Crescent is one
of the world's top ten Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in terms of
the volume of aid provided. During 2006 and 2007, the long list of Red
Crescent activities, besides Lebanon, Palestine and Syria, included help
for victims of conflict in Afghanistan and Somalia, help for those
affected by floods in Tanzania, Somalia, Malawi and the Philippines,
medical assistance for people in Burkina Faso, the Comoro Islands and
Somalia and continuing reconstruction programmes in Indonesia, Pakistan
and Sir Lanka.
During 2006, the UAE Red Crescent disbursed a total
of Dh250 million (US$68 million) outside the Emirates. Overall, between
1999 and late 2006, it has provided over Dh2.7 billion (over US$730
million) in humanitarian operations, both at home, and, much more
extensively, overseas. One recent initiative under the aegis of the UAE
Red Crescent is the Emirates Heart Group, a voluntary collective of
cardiologists working in the UAE, and from several countries, including
the Emirates, France, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and South Africa.
Started by five UAE cardiologists, and now boasting over 200
participants, the group's members volunteer their time to carry out
surgery in countries where there is a lack of such skills. Their
missions have included trips to Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Sudan and
Kenya.
While the UAE Red Crescent is the country's main aid
and relief agency, it is, by no means, the only body active in the
field. The Zayed Foundation not only responds to urgent needs arising
out of natural disasters, but also contributes to infrastructure
projects, like hospitals, healthcare institutions and schools. The scope
of the foundation is perhaps the most active in global terms of all the
UAE agencies. Among the countries in which it was active in 2006 and
2007 were Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Morocco, Yemen, Comoros Islands,
Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt and Mauritania, in the Arab world,
Niger, Mali, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Chad, Sierra Leone, Kenya,
Mauritius, the Comoro Islands, Burkina Faso and Cameroon in the rest of
Africa, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Maldives,
Tajikistan and the Philippines in Asia, and Kosovo and Bosnia in Europe.
Even when several years have passed after a
particular natural disaster, there often remains a need for continuing
international assistance. One such event was the massive earthquake in
December 2003 that hit the southern Iranian city of Bam, where the UAE
Red Crescent completed in mid-2007 the construction of an orphanage and
a centre for people with special needs.
Another natural disaster from which the effects are
still felt was the major tsunami that hit much of the Indian Ocean in
late 2004. The UAE was one of the first countries on the scene with
emergency assistance, but the need for help with reconstruction
continues. In Indonesia's Aceh province, a housing complex of 400 homes
was completed in late 2006 and early 2007, while help for Sri Lanka,
also seriously affected, has included completion over the last year of
over 1000 new homes, including a new 100-home Khalifa bin Zayed township
in Ambara and an 'Emirates Housing District' in Katakundi, with over 500
houses. Following up on the impact of the earthquake that hit parts of
Pakistan in October 2005, the Red Crescent, in collaboration with the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) signed agreements in late 2006
to build health centres and is also establishing vocational training
centres in association with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society. Support
for the rebuilding of Afghanistan's war-battered economy also continued
throughout the year. Of particular value was a well-digging programme in
rural areas, to help villagers resume the agriculture on which their
livelihoods depend. Over 100 wells were completed during the year. In
the five years from October 2001 to October 2006, the UAE's official and
non-official humanitarian aid to Afghanistan was worth a total of around
US$120 million, according to official figures.
Other UAE aid projects encompassed initiatives by
individuals, including a hostel for over 300 girl students in the Sir
Lankan capital, funded by HH Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, who also
donated US$2 million for a children's cancer hospital in Cairo, and a
500-home village for victims of the Sri Lankan civil war, funded by HH
Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council member and
Ruler of Sharjah. In Pakistan, Minister of Higher Education and
Scientific Research Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan has funded a
private academy in Islamabad for around 150 children orphaned by the
2005 earthquake.
Humanitarian aid is also provided by commercial UAE
companies, one example being Dubai-based property developer Emaar,
which, in association with the World Association of Non-Government
Organisations (Wango), financed reconstruction of a village, building of
a clinic, a school and homes and planting of new fruit trees to replace
those destroyed during a May 2006 earthquake in western Indonesia. Much
of the UAE's aid, whether government-to-government, or from
organisations or individuals, goes to countries which receive little
international attention unless they are affected by natural disasters or
conflict. For such states, aid from the UAE can be of very real
importance. One such state is Chad, landlocked in the Sahel region of
northern Africa. Help provided to Chad over the last few years has
included emergency relief, in response to epidemics and drought, and
also programmes to improve the country's educational and social
infrastructure.
According to Chad's Minister of Education, speaking
in June 2007, the UAE's assistance to Chad accounts for 90 per cent of
the total aid received by Chad from the rest of the world. ÔThe UAE's
humanitarian and charitable assistance is making a considerable impact
on the country. We are indebted to the UAE's leadership for keeping our
country on top of their agendaÕ, he said. Besides emergency and other
humanitarian relief, the UAE also has an extensive programme of
providing development aid. The oldest of the UAE's development agencies,
the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) was established in 1971. By
early 2007, it had provided a total of 52 countries in Africa, Asia and
the Mediterranean region over Dh21.2 billion (US$5.75 billion) in grants
and soft loans, mainly for infrastructure projects, along with a further
Dh537 million (US$ 146 million) in direct equity investment.
While much of the UAE's development assistance is
provided on a government-to-government basis, the country is also a
major contributor to international agencies. During the course of the
last 30 years, for example, over Dh100 billion (over US$27 billion) has
been made available through the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank, according to the Ministry of Finance and Industry.
Over US$500,000 was donated to various UN
development funds and programmes for 2007, including UNICEF, UNDP and
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR (November
2006), with the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA)
receiving a further US$500,000.
The UAE Government also participates in a number of
other multilateral aid-giving institutions, including the International
Development Agency (IDA), and other bodies like the OPEC Fund for
International Development, the Arab Gulf Fund for the UN (AGFUND), the
Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the Abu
Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and the Islamic Development Bank
(IDB). Overall, according to Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed
Al Nahyan, the UAE has now provided over US$70 billion in loans, grants
and assistance for development projects in some 95 countries.
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