Gaining access

By John Burton

The Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS) is a Geneva-based NGO that monitors the impact of humanitarian assistance worldwide. Twice a year, it issues a report identifying countries that are not getting the humanitarian assistance they need due to access constraints.

It will come as no surprise that North Korea routinely appears on its list of countries that have "extreme" or "very high" constraints on humanitarian access, whose number now stands at 17. In its latest report issued last month, ACAPS described the situation in North Korea, which it designates as having "very high constraints," as follows: "Overall humanitarian access is limited, though improvements have occurred since 2018."

It notes that international staff have access to all North Korean provinces, although tight restrictions exist for Chagang Province in the north.

"Travel and humanitarian activities remain highly regulated by national authorities. International humanitarian agencies, as well as DPRK nationals, are required to obtain advance clearance for travel outside Pyongyang and international staff must always be accompanied by DPRK nationals. Itineraries must be planned in advance for authorization and the location of new projects discussed with the government."

It adds that "Economic sanctions, particularly U.N. and bilateral U.S. secondary sanctions, have restricted the import of humanitarian goods and complicated the funding of humanitarian projects."

Another obstacle is that "Road quality outside Pyongyang is of varying quality. And flooding caused by the monsoon season further hindered access."

The situation in North Korea differs from most of the other countries that ACAPS cites as suffering severe humanitarian access problems. Many of them, including Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, are in conflict zones that hinder the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Humanitarian aid workers in these countries must deal with widespread violence. Harassment and looting of relief material are common. Civilian authorities and security forces interfere with NGOs by imposing bureaucratic restrictions, including the import of humanitarian materials.

Like North Korea, many of these countries also suffer from poor road infrastructure and regular flooding.

What is noteworthy in the ACAPS assessment is that North Korea is the only country cited that suffers from external humanitarian access constraints in the form of the U.N. and U.S. sanctions regimes.

North Korea has been rightly criticized for putting restrictions on humanitarian relief operations, but it is not the only country to do so. The most egregious example cited by ACAPS is Eritrea, which it said was one of only three countries with "extreme" access constraints, along with war-torn Syria and Yemen.

International NGOs are prohibited in the country, unlike in North Korea. Eritrea allows only a few U.N. agencies to operate, including the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. They have defined the operational environment as "challenging, but permissible for day-to-day activities."

"Incoming funds from the U.N. and other donor agencies are subject to strict limitations and must pass through the Government of Eritrea," ACAPS said. "Information gaps are noticeable, for example on the obstacles encountered by Eritreans in accessing services or movement restrictions within the country. Historically, Eritrea has not shared information about the level of humanitarian needs."

Humanitarian aid projects in several other countries are also subject to political controls.

In Myanmar, the government is restricting access for international aid organizations to conflict regions, including Rakhine State, where the minority Rohingya population has been subject to systematic prosecution by the army in the last few years.

Restrictions are placed on the access of aid workers to the Gaza Strip, which has been under a 12-year blockade by Israel and Egypt due to their hostility to the local Hamas government. Aid groups "face difficulties in getting visas to access Gaza, and agreed U.N. privileges are breached as U.N. vehicles are searched at checkpoints. Aid is politicized with the Israeli government banning the import of specific humanitarian items into Gaza, and Hamas imposing restrictions on humanitarian operations within the Gaza Strip."

The delivery of humanitarian assistance is also politicized in Venezuela, where the government "publicly denies the need for aid, posing obstacles to organizations active on a field level. While international humanitarian staff is allowed to enter the county, the difficult process to register organizations and a ban on imports hamper humanitarian operations."

With North Korea now blocking the delivery of 50,000 tons of rice from South Korea in protest over the staging of joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, other ways may be needed to deliver aid to North Koreans.

Asia Times recently highlighted the case of Seoul-based Helping Hands Korea which is seeking to bypass official controls by smuggling in food, medicine and seeds through underground networks in China and Russia. More such creative solutions may be needed.

John Burton (johnburtonft@yahoo.com), a former Korea correspondent for the Financial Times, is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and consultant.