Joint Advocacy Statement on Funding for Bosnia and Herzegovina
21 March 2003
Signed by
UMCOR NGO
World Vision
As representatives of the major US international PVOs
in Bosnia and Herzegovina we feel that we must express our
serious concern to the United States Congress and all
those involved with the United States allocation of
foreign humanitarian and development funding at the highly
significant reduction in United States assistance for
reconstruction, sustainability and development aid in
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia and Herzegovina faces a serious crisis: 2002 saw the
last year of funding from the US State department via the
Bureau of Populations, Refugees and Migration (BPRM). The USAID budget has been substantially reduced, and last
year, Bosnia and Herzegovina was also passed over on the USDA
list of target countries for PL 480 assistance. There are
many unresolved issues on the horizon such as the
potential mass return to Bosnia and Herzegovina of up to
160,000 Bosnian Serb refugees currently in Serbia and
Montenegro. There is under-funding through every sector in
the country - the consequences for future stability and
development are serious.
We recognise that a transition must be made at some
point from an aid driven to a self-sufficient economy and
with United States assistance this transition is already
well underway: exports are up, imports are down, displaced
minorities are returning in increasing numbers and the
rule of law is taking effect in ever greater areas of this
beleaguered country. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina is
developing at different rates dependant upon geopolitical
and demographic factors which means it is essential that
humanitarian assistance levels be maintained to respond to
the continuing emergencies, which threaten to destabilize
the peace process and the Dayton Peace Accords, which the
United States brokered in 1995. We feel that it is
important the correct assistance is given to build up a
viable economy and United States Government funding has
supported many excellent interventions in this area.
However, there remains much to be done. The problems of
Bosnia and Herzegovina must be viewed in a regional context
and the problems and actions of its neighbors
impact directly on it. Serbia and Montenegro are taking
strides to arrive at a durable solution for the 320,000
refugees currently within its borders (including 160,000
from Bosnia and Herzegovina). Three years ago a decrease in
assistance to returnees caused an upsurge in return
numbers, desperate returnees had no shelter, food or
economic opportunity – in this case a crisis was averted
by swift intervention on the part of NGOs, the UN and
donors such as the US Government. Some of the measures now
proposed such as the withdrawal of refugee status to
Bosnian Serbs currently in Serbia and Montenegro will result
in even larger refugee flows returning to devastated and
economically depressed areas within Bosnia and Herzegovina
only this time the support mechanisms will not be there.
The affect of this return when combined with a lack of
governmental social support and simmering resentment from
the recent war could very well have tragic results. An
overburdening of already stretched state resources and
increased competition for scarce job opportunities could
easily lead to renewed ethnic tensions, inter ethnic
conflict and a breakdown in security in this strategically
important part of Europe. This would reverse all the
progress towards stability achieved since the Dayton Peace
Accords for which the US and its partners worked so hard.
As the High Representative (OHR) Paddy Ashdown
emphasized in his New Year address: "We must replace the
prospect of economic collapse with the prospect of
economic viability and prosperity." Unfortunately the
prospect of economic collapse with all the inherent
instability is still a real one.
The 2003 US proposed aid budget has been reduced by 6
million USD from 2002; next year will likely see proposals
for further cuts. US humanitarian structures such as the
aforementioned USAID, USDA and BPRM are either ceasing to
work with PVOs in Bosnia and Herzegovina or are scaling back
hugely.
The United States has invested much of its energy and
resources in Bosnia and Herzegovina to bring it from the
depths of fratricidal war to its current state of a
developing peace. It is vital for the stability of this
emerging regional democracy in an increasingly unstable
world that the US retains rather than relinquishes its
role of leading the aid efforts. We therefore urge the
United States Government to increase its funding for PVO
aid efforts in the fiscal years 2003 and 2004 through the
existing US based assistance structures or new
initiatives.
The Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United
Nations and the European Union are already shouldering
their part of the burden. We feel that it is equally
important that the US is seen by the rest of the world
also to continue to assist the transition and ensuring
that Bosnia and Herzegovina one day takes it's rightful place
among the stable, pluralistic and prosperous members of
the international community.
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