MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
05.09.2005
pursuant to Rule 115(5) of the Rules of Procedure
by Johan van Hecke and Fiona Hall
on behalf of the ADLE group
on the famine in the Niger
B6-0473/2005
European parliament resolution on the famine in the Niger
The European parliament,
- having regard to the UN donor appeals for Niger food aid, amounting to $80.9 million,
– having regard to Article 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas Niger was the world's second poorest country even before poor rains and locust invasions devastated last year's crops, leading to an estimated third of its close to 12 million people suffering from severe food shortages, including 800 000 children who are facing acute malnutrition;
B. whereas drought-ridden areas are also known to be conducive to the outbreak of a number of communicable diseases such as malaria, hepatitis, cholera, typhoid fever and diarrhoea;
C. whereas Niger's food crisis is complex: weather patterns, food production, markets, technology, sanitation, healthcare, education, child rearing practices, Niger’s large foreign debt and widespread poverty all play their roles;
D. whereas this year, a volatile regional food market has forced food prices through the roof, out of reach for the poor;
E. whereas repeated UN appeals beginning in November 2004 went almost unheeded until the situation reached crisis proportions;
F. whereas efforts to address Niger's chronic hunger problem have routinely faced problems of funding and therefore have often been only small scale;
G. whereas humanitarian aid needs are immense, ranging from food, drinking water and drugs to vaccines for children with a view to preventing epidemics;
H. whereas the urgency of addressing the immediate situation is clear, ending the cycle of deprivation in Niger and across the Sahel is a long-term challenge requiring massive investment and a genuine commitment to eradicating hunger;
I. whereas desertification and soil nutrient depletion in the Sahel is a result of the unsustainable use of natural resources, including the decimation of forests and bushland and the effects of climate change;
1. Urges the international community not to turn its back on continued suffering in Niger, as food distributions continue across the worst affected parts of the country, but financial support for emergency operations shows worrying signs of tailing off;
2. Welcomes the Commission’s earmarking of €4.6 million in humanitarian aid to Niger as well as the pledge to "provide additional humanitarian funds should the situation continue to deteriorate", as announced on 1 July;
3. Deplores the insufficient and slow reaction of the Government of Niger to the looming crisis; regrets the failure of the authorities to distribute free food in the early stages of the crisis;
4. Deplores the late response by the international donors to UN funding appeals, first made 9 months ago; stresses, in this regard, the difficulty to mobilise international aid just at the time when the rich G8 countries were claiming to make Africa their top priority;
5. Deeply regrets that African catastrophes bring about such laboured mobilisation, whereas the tsunami and its victims, among whom were Western tourists, caused huge media attention;
6. Welcomes the coordination of ECHO emergency aid with longer term food security operations administered by the Commission, as well as the clear indication of rural development and food security as a priority in the Niger Country Strategy Paper;
7. Calls on international donors to also focus on health-related aid, for instance to improve the access to clean water, to distribute re-hydration tablets and to support and expand existing health services to prevent an outbreak of communicable diseases;
8. Calls on international donors to coordinate their aid strategies for Niger with each other, as well as with the African Union, ECOWAS and other regional and local actors; stresses the importance of making this aid long-term and part of a regional strategy to escape the cycle of poverty and starvation;
9. Expresses its concern about food availability in the neighbouring states of Mali and Burkina Faso and calls for close monitoring of the situation in the wider region;
10. Calls on the Commission and the Council to improve the early warning system to monitor sensitive regions where famine may arise, in order to allow earlier action and to prevent disasters;
11. Stresses that the core problem in Niger is chronic widespread poverty, and that the country has no margin to build contingency stocks to meet these sorts of crisis needs;
12. Calls on the Commission and the Council to acknowledge the effects of global warming on sub-Saharan Africa and act in Europe to mitigate such effects by adopting stringent EU CO2 reduction strategies;
13. Calls on the Commission to implement, once the emergency is over, a comprehensive policy to tackle the root causes of the crisis, to address the underlying structural causes and to improve agricultural productivity in the region;
14. Calls on the governments in the region to implement a policy of sustainable development in the agricultural sector;
15. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the African Union, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the co-Presidents of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the governments of Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.