As the toll of death and destruction in Pakistan continues to climb, some Muslim NGOs are already facing difficulties in enacting their response — in what they see as a continuation of a long-running discriminatory trend.
Also in today’s edition: A bank’s failed attempt to sink €1 billion into inequality, and why can’t the world learn its lessons when it comes to global health?
The great floods
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United Nations chief António Guterres yesterday described the rains and flooding that have inundated Pakistan as “epochal” and a “monsoon on steroids.” The country’s government reported a third of its landmass is underwater, causing more than 1,100 deaths and the displacement of half a million people. Guterres is making a trip to Pakistan late next week, but by then the situation could have deteriorated further as more bad weather is forecast.
But as the international response kicks off, some NGOs rushing to help are already encountering problems — specifically Islamic charities. That’s due to long-standing financial difficulties these organizations have had with bank derisking practices, which they say are unfair, based on an exaggerated sense of risk, and discriminatory. The problem emerged after the 9/11 attacks, but appears to be getting worse, and is already impeding the fledgling humanitarian response for Pakistan, according to Fadi Itani, CEO at the Muslim Charities Forum.
“Charities want to respond, the crisis is so big, but they are going through a lot of issues,” Itani tells me. “The last thing you want [in this situation] is a delay of hours.”
Pakistan is far from the only country where humanitarian responses by Islamic NGOs have seen their financial services disrupted by banks. Payments have also gone missing without explanation for programs in Syria, Somalia, and Afghanistan, according to Itani and others in the sector — all places deemed high risk by banks, but also with Muslim majority populations.
Financial services to NGOs serving Ukraine, meanwhile, have largely gone smoothly, which has heightened a sense of discrimination that’s being felt by some in Muslim organizations, who also see their work as part of religious duty.
Learn more: Islamic NGOs say they endure systematic financial discrimination
From our Devex Pro archives: Pro members can read a Q&A on Islamic Relief, anti-Semitism, and humanitarian impartiality. Not a Pro member yet? Start your free 15-day trial.
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Unlivable
In other dire climate-related news, my colleague Vince Chadwick reports there’s rising concern among European officials that large swaths of Africa will soon become uninhabitable because of rising temperatures.
“Many countries in the Sahel and many countries in the Horn [of Africa], notably Somalia, are reaching temperature levels, which make part of the country actually not suitable to be lived in,” says Andrea Koulaimah, director for sub-Saharan Africa at the European Commission’s humanitarian department.
More than 36 million people are affected by drought in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya. Koulaimah says politicians in those countries needed to discuss “what kind of model they want for the future, how much are they ready to leave the traditional way of living.”
Climate change: Heat renders parts of Africa 'not suitable' for life, says EU official
Stay tuned: My colleague Sara Jerving recently returned from a trip to Somalia. Keep an eye out next week for her report on the crisis there. In the meantime, read her visual story that documents the lives of those affected by one of the most severe droughts in the country’s recent history.
FMO no
Readers will be well aware by now that the pandemic and war in Ukraine have been blamed for the development finance shortcomings of numerous donors. FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank, is no exception. A public-private development bank supervised by the Dutch Central Bank, FMO set a target to invest €1 billion ($1 billion) through its Reducing Inequalities track — but appears to have massively missed the target, with less than €200 million invested so far this year.
Marnix Monsfort, FMO’s director of financial institutions, tells Devex the shortfall is partly due to a lack of demand for funds from financial institutions exercising increased caution due to the war in Ukraine.
Read more: Ukraine war, pandemic derail FMO in its 'Reducing Inequalities' measure
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Take two
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, world leaders swore to learn the collective lesson about infectious diseases and generally take global health security more seriously. Many of them have thrown their support behind several plans and initiatives, including the creation of a new pandemic preparedness fund and a potential new international agreement to strengthen future pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. But they remain insufficient, and now, with the pandemic not yet over, already another unusual disease has gone international: monkeypox.
So what went wrong? Dennis Carroll, who led USAID’s unit focused on pandemics influenza and other emerging threats for nearly 15 years, unpacks the main issues at play, including the lack of a global surveillance system capable of forecasting emerging infectious disease threats.
“The world urgently needs a global commitment to comprehensive, long-term surveillance across wildlife, livestock, and human populations of critical biological, epidemiologic, and ecological changes in viruses which pose an elevated risk to human and animal health,” he writes in an op-ed for Devex. “This type of system would allow us to get ahead of — and hopefully prevent — the next viral outbreak.”
Opinion: Monkeypox and global health security — will we ever learn?
Related: Is monkeypox an emergency except when it's in Africa?
In other news
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry is hoping for a restart of U.S.-China talks over curbing emissions. [Financial Times]
Sri Lanka and the International Monetary Fund have reached a preliminary agreement over an emergency loan. [Daily Mirror Sri Lanka]
An Israeli court has sentenced a Palestinian aid worker to 12 years in prison; he is convicted of diverting funds to Hamas, which independent investigations found no evidence of. [BBC]
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About the author
William Worley@willrworley
Will Worley is the Climate Correspondent for Devex, covering the intersection of development and climate change. He previously worked as UK Correspondent, reporting on the FCDO and British aid policy during a time of seismic reforms. Will’s extensive reporting on the UK aid cuts saw him shortlisted for ‘Specialist Journalist of the Year’ in 2021 by the British Journalism Awards. He can be reached at william.worley@devex.com.
