Italian cooperation: global aid increases, but resources have been diverted to welcoming refugees and donating Covid vaccines

ROME – According to new data OECD – despite the quantitative increase in global aid – 14.4% of total resources in 2022 were used for interventions in donor countries. The cost of welcoming refugees and donations of Covid vaccines, accounted for at market prices, weighed the most. The redirection of huge resources to deal with the humanitarian crisis and the Ukrainian refugees, while legitimate and necessary, risks going to the detriment of the poorest and most fragile countries. Meanwhile, overall aid to Africa declines by 7% globally. Italian aid is also growing, but only thanks to the increase in reception costs in our country. The appeal of Campaign 0.70% to the Government and Parliament for a real increase in aid and compliance with international commitments.

Much of the resources remained in the pockets of the rich. In short, in 2022, the resources allocated to public aid for development essentially remained in rich countries, rather than being destined to improve living conditions in the poorest areas of the planet. It is above all the item “of the costs of refugees in the donor country” that has the greatest impact: an item that has reached the record figure of 29.3 billion dollars, with a 134% increase compared to 2021. In other words, what withheld by Donor countries for interventions within national borders is higher than the overall increase in global aid (+13.6%), which went from 186 billion in 2021 to 204 billion in 2022. This is what OXFAM denounced the day after the publication of the new data preliminary for 2022 by the OECD Development Assistance Committee.

The effects of the Ukrainian crisis. With the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and the largest exodus of refugees in Europe since the second post-war period, huge resources have been “redirected” to deal with the emergency (16 billion dollars in total, equal to 8% of the total Global ODA “At a time when tens of millions of people in the poorest and most vulnerable countries are struggling to survive the effects of wars, the climate crisis and inflation, rich countries have turned their pledges of aid into a farce – said Francesco Petrelli, political consultant of Oxfam Italy on finance for development – Almost 30 billion have been mistakenly considered as ‘genuine’ development aid, without being so. It’s actually an increase written on water. Much of it was intended to deal with the reception of asylum seekers within national borders, especially Ukrainian refugees, without the necessary allocation of additional resources. On the other hand, another share was accounted for for the second consecutive year, considering the cost of donations of Covid vaccines, consisting of warehouse stocks already purchased for national needs at a high market price.

The Italian scenario. Also in Italy, the resources to meet the costs of managing the reception of migrants have tripled, going from 557 million to 1.5 billion. In this scenario, Italy is an emblematic example of a purely fictitious increase in resources allocated to public aid, ie to eradicate poverty in developing countries. In fact, our country went from 0.29% in 2021 to 0.32% in 2022 of ODA in relation to gross national income, with an increase on paper of 15%, i.e. from 6.085 billion dollars to 6.468. However, as the OECD itself maintains in its assessments of aid trends in the various countries, “this is an increase exclusively due to the share of costs of refugees in the donor country, without which aid for development would decrease”.

Triple the costs for the reception. “Resources spent exclusively on reception costs in Italy have tripled, going from 557 million to almost 1.5 billion and represent 23% of the total of the entire Italian ODA. – continues Petrelli – Certainly weighs the increase in arrivals through the Mediterranean from 67,000 in 2021 to 104,000 in 2022 and the redirection of 359 million dollars due to the Ukraine crisis. However, a clear evidence remains: once again these are resources not destined for poor countries. All this while Italian aid to Africa has been more than halved, going from 1.030 billion dollars in 2021 to 491 million dollars in 2022. The same goes for funds destined for so-called low-development countries (LDCs ), dropping from $925 million in 2021 to $335 million in 2022”.

The target of 0.70% remains a mirage. Among OECD donor countries, the target of allocating 0.70% in ODA remains a mirage. Meanwhile, in real terms, the fulfillment of the solemn commitments made over 50 years ago and reaffirmed in 2015 with the UN Agenda 2030 for sustainable development remains a mirage. In particular, that of reaching 0.70% of gross national income in development aid. Above all because, beyond the percentages, the goals of social and environmental sustainability and the fight against extreme poverty are moving away, considering that these indicators are worsening in 9 out of 10 countries. On average, in 2022, rich countries allocated only 0, 36% of their Gross National Income goes to development aid, up from 0.33% in 2021, but far below 0.70%. The 20 donor countries of the European Union, with a total of 91.6 billion dollars, average 0.57% of the ODA/GNI ratio and represent 45% of the global total. The USA alone accounts for 25%.

The five most virtuous countries. In 2022, only 5 European countries – Luxembourg, Norway, Germany, Sweden and Denmark – achieved a crucial goal for the present and future of hundreds of millions of people. And Italy in this, as we have seen, is no exception in a positive sense. “According to estimates by oxfam this broken promise cost low- and middle-income countries 6.5 trillion dollars from 1970 to 2021. – concludes Petrelli – What we are witnessing is not only a zero-sum or negative game, but denounces a lack of vision and assumption of responsibility”.

The appeal to Italy. “Already in 2021, the relative increase in Italian development aid was linked to episodic factors: donations of vaccines purchased for Italy or extraordinary contributions to UN agencies for the fight against the pandemic. In other words, the aid did not have the characteristics of replicability and programming essential to be effective. – adds Ivana Borsotto, spokesperson for the campaign 070also supported by oxfam – This year the aid turns out to be only virtual. We are also concerned because cuts have been made in the planned increases in the latest budget law. The target of 0.70% is getting further and further away. We appeal to the Government and Parliament to ensure that Italy respects its international commitments”.