A “humanitarian superpower”? |
The US Department of State and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday that outlined US humanitarian aid contributions, significantly reduced from previous years to just $2 billion.
Amid the rhetoric, the US Department of State’s press release summarises the “new paradigm’ thus: fund vehicles that “will be administered by OCHA pursuant to comprehensive country-level policy agreements that will govern the delivery of UN humanitarian assistance in specific countries of operation and ensure alignment with American interests and priorities.”
The press release notes that the UN failed to deliver on its promise and accuses UN bodies of abandoning their original mandate “of protecting global peace and security – too often espousing radical social ideologies........