As a prelude to this article you might want to read EU funds tsunami aid disappeared (part I) and The aftermath of disappeared aid. In search of the whereabouts of the tsunami aid of the European Commission, I received an e-mail of the Directorate-General Humanitarian Aid And Civil Protection ECHO at the 4th of May 2015. The subject of this e-mail was: NO DOCUMENT FOUND.
Of course, I registered a formal objection. An answer is given at the 19th and the 23rd of June 2015. Through this research article I am sharing the content of this information. I can already tell you in advance that the answer is again disappointing. And I will end this investigation epic with a final result: total justification of the EU tsunami aid has been lost.
E-mail of June 19
1) GestDem 2402/2015
“I would like to read everything about the evaluation of the tsunami aid. I am looking for a list of hard ware and its whereabouts. I am not looking for generals audit reports (how much money went to which sector?) but a specific output list with location and responsible organisation. I like to examine the existence of this output. Please forward me all possible documents”.
The first part of the request is a request for access for information taking into account that DEVCO is not in possession of a “list of hard ware and its whereabouts”, and consequently, there is no document to release in this context. This part of the request has to be deal following the Code of Good Administrative Behaviour for the European Commission and not Regulation 1049/2001 on access to documents. Is this sense, please, find the information requested:
Our understanding is that the tsunami you are referring to is the 2004 tsunami that hit Indonesia, also known as the “boxing day” tsunami. The EU and its Member States have supported Indonesia throughout the reconstruction process. This was reflected in the fact that the EU and its Member States were the largest contributor to the Multi Donor Fund for Aceh and Nias, established as a coordination and consolidation platform to support the government with the reconstruction of the two provinces. The EU and its Member States have contributed to the fund with USD 561 million, accounting to 86 per cent of total funding. The EU alone was the largest donor with USD 271 million. The MDF has made a huge difference to people’s lives. With its help nearly 20 thousand homes, 670 schools and 511 local government offices or village and town halls have been reconstructed or rehabilitated in Aceh and Nias. In addition to this, MDF-funded projects have made it possible to rebuild key transportation infrastructure, including five critical ports, 570 kilometres of national and provincial roads, 87 kilometres of district roads and more than 3 thousand kilometres of village roads. Furthermore, improvements in water and sanitation facilities have received special attention. The programme has built nearly 1600 kilometres of irrigation and drainage channels, some 8 thousand or so wells and other sources of clean water, as well as 1220 sanitation units.
Concerning the request for documents, we enclose a copy of the following document, hoping it would be useful for your research: “Multi Donor Fund 2012 Final Report-Sustainable Futures: A Legacy of Reconstruction“. Please note that this document was received by the Commission from the Multi Donor Fund. It is disclosed for information only. It does not reflect the position of the Commission and cannot be quoted as such.
2) GestDem 2015/2401
“This is the second request I have: DG DEVCO contracts external evaluators to examine its programmes in the area of development cooperation and DG ECHO is responsible for humanitarian aid interventions concerning the Tsunami aid. Can you give me a list of all external evaluators”.
This demand, as well as the first part of the first one, is a request for access for information taking into account that DEVCO is not in possession of a “list of all external evaluators”, and consequently, there is no document to release in this context. This part of the request has to be deal following the Code of Good Administrative Behaviour for the European Commission and not Regulation 1049/2001 on access to documents. Nevertheless, the information requested is protected by the Regulation 45/2001 on the treatment of personal data and therefore cannot be disclosed.
Sender:
European Commission
International Cooperation and Development
Unit H1 – Geographical Coordination for Asia and Pacific
E-mail of June 23
DECISION OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL ON BEHALF OF THE COMMISSION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 4 OF THE IMPLEMENTING RULES TO REGULATION (EC) № 1049/2001
Through your initial application of 26 April 2015 with Directorate-General Humanitarian aid and civil protection (DG ECHO), you stated that you would like to:
‘read everything about the evaluation of the tsunami aid … looking for a list of hardware and its whereabouts… a specific output list with location and responsible organisation … Please forward me all possible documents.’
In your confirmatory application you reiterate your request and ask for a review of the initial decision. Against this background, the Commission has carried out a renewed, thorough search for the documents requested. Following this renewed search, I confirm that the Commission has not identified any documents held by it that would fall under your request for access to documents.
Indeed as specified in Article 2(3) of Regulation 1049/2001, the right of access as defined in that regulation applies only to existing documents in the possession of the institution. Given that no such documents have been identified, the Commission is not in a position to handle your request.
In your confirmatory request for access, you also state that you wish to know how much money was donated by the EU to countries having suffered from the 2004 tsunami. As regards the humanitarian aid granted by the EU to people that were affected by the 2004 tsunami, ECHO committed approximately 123,000.000 EUR.
Sender:
European Commission
Secretariat General
Unit SG.B4 – Transparency
Summarize
The aforementioned statistic that is derived from document “Multi Donor Fund 2012 Final Report-Sustainable Futures: A Legacy of Reconstruction” is a sum of output. This is the problem of the entire development sector, citizens are getting the final score. I would like to count and add up myself. There are no lists of output (just final equations), no receipts (just final equations). The public is not able to check anything. And thus the output is not proven (read: disappeared). The entire document is a farce with open doors and rhetoric.
The EU report to me about helping 20 thousand homes, 670 schools and 511 local government offices or village and town halls, 570 kilometres of national and provincial roads, 87 kilometres of district roads, more than 3 thousand kilometres of village roads, 1600 kilometres of irrigation and drainage channels, some 8 thousand or so wells and other sources of clean water, as well as 1220 sanitation units. My questions are very simple: is there a list of 20 thousand homes, a list of 670 schools, a list of 511 offices, a list of GPS coordinates of 3 thousand km roads, a list of GPS coordinates of 1600 km irrigation channels and a list of GPS coordinates of 8 thousand wells/1220 sanitation units? If these answers can not be answered, in my opinion, it’s not there. The whole system unables me to check anything. I am asking these kind of questions for over a decade to all Dutch and international organisations without any answer whatsoever. In this particular case, the EU is unable to provide me any information abouth the above mentioned whereabouts.
As I wrote in EU funds tsunami aid disappeared the problem is that on a global base, development organisation are part of Private Law instead of Public Law. Therefore, officials are able to hide their work without any solid and detailed justification regarding output/outcome. Only final financial reports are made public, without any possibility to check the components of the equation. This would not be the case if development organisation would be part of national Public Law. Foundations therefore have a special status, like in a money-laundering service. Shocking.
It is funny: asking how much money the EU spend on the tsunami aid, I receive different answers.
AUTHOR: H.R.J. Sluijter MA
URL: www.NL-Aid.org
E-MAIL: info [at] www.NL-Aid.org