Pakistan's 'image deficit' hurting aid funds flow: UN

"Information linked to Pakistan has always been linked to Talibans and terrorism,"


Afp August 16, 2010

GENEVA: Relief agencies are having trouble obtaining funds to help millions of Pakistan flood victims as the country suffers from an "image deficit", a UN spokeswoman said Monday.

"We note often an image deficit with regards to Pakistan among Western public opinion," said Elizabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"As a result, Pakistan is among countries that are poorly financed, like Yemen," she added.

The Unied Nations has been struggling to obtain $460 million to provide emergency aid to six million victims of the country ravaged by heavy flooding. Only a fifth of the required funds have been pledged since the appeal was launched on August 11.

Melanie Brooks, spokeswoman of the humanitarian group Care International stressed that the UN must explain to donor states that "the money is not going to go to the hands of the Talibans."

"The victims are the mothers, the farmers, children. But in the past, information linked to Pakistan has always been linked to Talibans and terrorism," she said.

According to authorities, around a quarter of the country which extends over 800,000 square kilometres (308,880 square miles) and counts 167 million inhabitants, have been affected by the floods.

The UN said billions would be needed in the long term to reconstruct the villages, infrastructure and harvests devastated by the floods.

COMMENTS (23)

smak | 13 years ago | Reply Madam UN!!!! For God sake, stop playing with slogans.Humanity is in crises.Millions of lives are at life-threat situation.Infants, kids are dying. Thousands of women are pregnant. The UN need to see what best possible can be quickly contributed to help out the deprived and worse-effected by the biggest natural calamity. HOW MANY LIVES WE ALL TOGETHER CAN SAVE. THIS IS THE QUESTION. amjid
Aftab Kenneth Wilson | 13 years ago | Reply Trust deficit is not something new which we are facing. Let us check our all previous governments both in Uniform and Mufti. It is time for all who matter to gel together and do something for the affected population. Some Politicians and Media Houses are out their only to discredit its own rulers as if they have come from some other Planet. The main problem here is that we have never looked into building our Civil Infrastructure and if even in some areas we did something it has all been exposed in these floods. Why don't we equip our Civil Defense with all necessary equipment and personnel???? There was a time when some even threatened to wage war against our neighbor on Water distribution. Now we have water all around us, do we have any dams to store if something again happens of similar kind or lesser. Why are we all playing on Yes Dam No Dam. It is time to be realistic and do some over all planning so as to meet these types of eventualities in a better way.
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ