15 April 2020, NIICE Commentary 4103
Dr. Mohammad Tarikul Islam
It is evident that, the humanitarian impact and consequences of COVID-19 are rarely contained within national boundaries, as the current crisis shows the vulnerability of global community. More often than not, humanitarian emergencies have regional implications—whether in terms of impact or in terms of response—even when the original event triggering humanitarian needs happens strictly within national borders. If we act together now, we can emerge stronger tomorrow. This is the best way to foster regional cooperation for tackling the global crisis like COVID-19.
The European Union is playing the proactive role to supplement the efforts of its member countries to tackle the destructive impact of COVID-19. Together with member countries, EU is adapting priorities and programmes for comprehensive and decisive action to address this deadly crisis. It is supporting healthcare measures, stepping up testing and research and working to develop a vaccine. EU is also providing crucial support to governments for the delivery of essential social services and providing loan guarantees to boost economic activity and safeguard livelihoods. It has been mobilizing more than €15.6 billion in this regard.
Before looking at the initiatives of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in helping out its member countries to combat the deadly COVID-19, we must understand the credibility of SAARC. The complexity of political tensions in South Asia has made regional cooperation difficult at best, to stand beside member countries for tackling common crisis. Although the association of South Asian nations, SAARC found success in bringing the conflicting nations together, no effective progress has been made towards a functional entity so far. Considering the political rivalries internal and external to South Asia, it has become clear that regional cooperation through SAARC has broken down on the account of general mistrust.
Notwithstanding the deceptive failure of SAARC, call for the regional cooperation to raise and mobilize fund in collective manner by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a video conference with SAARC leaders on 15 March 2020 seems to me a ‘light at the end of tunnel’ to revive this impending regional entity. Apparently, contributions to a fund put together by South Asian countries for combating the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be taking off, with almost all nations pledging money to the pool. The only notable holdout is Pakistan which is yet to announce any contribution to the fund. Modi had then announced an initial amount of USD 10 million to the fund for which the contributions were to be made on a voluntary basis by member countries. Banglaesh promised for USD 1.5 million followed by Sri Lanka USD 5 million, Afghanistan USD 1 million, Nepal USD 831,393, Maldives USD 200,000 and Bhutan USD 100,000. The SAARC video conference meet was attended by the heads of government of all SAARC member countries with the exception of Pakistan, which was represented by Zafar Mirza, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Health. It is said that, a strong strategy by SAARC member countries to fight the COVID-19 threat in South Asian region will be the ultimate goal of current endeavor.
During one of author’s papers “Disaster Governance in South Asia and the role of SAARC” published by the South Asia Monitor, he had voiced the crying need of empowering SAARC for regional security in addressing common threats and crisis. Recurring disasters pose a great development challenge for all SAARC countries. Even though, SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management is in place, regional cooperation is apparently missing to minimize the probable loss and damage of lives, livelihood and assets in South Asian region upholding the spirit of governance in disaster management. South Asia with one fifth of world population is an extreme disaster prone region. Over past forty years, South Asia faced as many as 1333 disasters that killed 980,000 people, affected 2.4 billion lives and damaged assets worth USD 105 billion.
South Asia has been acknowledged to be a region in crisis because of natural calamities. South Asia with its population of about 1.5 billion is one of the regions in the world highly exposed to a variety of natural as well as human induced hazards. Countries in the SAARC region experienced a number of major disasters in the last one and a half decades, which took lives of about half a million people and caused huge economic losses and destruction. Among others, the major reasons in increasing vulnerability of people in the region is largely related to the demographic conditions, rapid technological and socioeconomic changes, fast expanding urbanization and development within high-risk environment
COVID-19 is more severe than any form of natural disasters which may get even worse. Keeping this reality in mind, SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management and Disaster Prevention must be enforced. The SAARC Centre for Disaster Management and Preparedness, SAARC Coastal Zone Management Centre and SAARC Meteorological Research Centre should be entrusted to work together with member countries implementing the framework in context of regional cooperation within the mandate of the respective Regional Centres.
As per SAARC Comprehensive Framework on Disaster Management, all the Member States will be encouraged to apply a holistic approach and maintain consistency in programming and building multi-stakeholder partnerships at all levels, to contribute to the implementation of this Framework for Action. Member States and other actors are encouraged to promote the strengthening or establishment of volunteer corps, which can be made available during disasters. Member countries shall develop their own plan of action for implementation of this framework while the regional cooperation components of this framework shall be implemented by the concerned regional mechanisms.
Despite the fact, SAARC has apparently failed to emerge as an effective regional body even over 28 years after its inception. It could not even play an effective role in helping nations enforce comprehensive framework on Disaster Management, due to lack of intergovernmental cooperation. Prime Minister of Bangladesh should be appreciated for attaching importance to accelerating regional cooperation for better disaster management. Recalling the statements made while addressing the 4th session of the Regional Consultative Group (RCG) on Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination for Asia and the Pacific in early 2019, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stressed on the need for collaboration and cooperation among neighboring countries to minimize damages caused by natural disasters. Similarly, the United Nations system, including international finance and development agencies, and all intergovernmental organizations and forums should, in consultation with non-governmental organizations, complement the efforts of SAARC to accelerate the enforcement of legislations pertaining to disaster management for the benefit of the people affected in South Asia due to COVID-19 apart from utilizing this common fund to manage emergency.
