When it comes to the needs of people displaced by fighting in Myanmar’s Shan State – the country’s largest ethnic state - there is a serious aid deficit.
The existing situation of IDPs – with a history of Myanmar military “scorched earth attacks” in the 1990s – has been compounded by internal clashes between ethnic armed organizations and heightened problems in the wake of the February 2021 coup.
UN figures of IDPs nationwide are useful to ponder.
“Most people who have been displaced since the February 2021 military takeover are currently concentrated within the north-west and south-east of Myanmar. As of 14 March, the north-west part of Myanmar was hosting the highest number of IDPs with 272,900 people in total: 195,300 in Sagaing, 44,300 in Magway region and 33,300 in Chin State. Southeast Myanmar hosts the second largest IDP population with 228,800 in total: 93,800 in Kayah; 51,500 in southern Shan; 71,500 in Kayin; 7,500 in Mon; 3,700 in Tanintharyi; and 800 in eastern Bago. Many of these IDPs were forced out of their villages and have been staying within their townships, but many others have had to move into neighbouring states or regions seeking safety and available food and basic services,” according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report of Myanmar Humanitarian Update No.16 of 19 March 2022.
However, slightly different figures are posted of 6,700 in Shan State north, and 59,100 in Shan State south, according to the same report.
OVERALL AID FOR MYANMAR IN 2021
Since the details of humanitarian assistance were not available geographically for states and regions according to sectoral or cluster breakdown, it is reasonable to look at a summary of whole the country first to get an overall view concerning the actual funding and implementation on the ground.
According to "Myanmar Humanitarian Response Plan Monitoring Report: January - December 2021" by OCHA on 24 March 2022:
“The HRP (Humanitarian Response Plan) 2021 and IERP (Interim Emergency Response Plan) 2021 jointly targeted 3 million people (40% children, 43% adults aged 18-59 yrs, and 17% elderly people aged +60 yrs) to receive humanitarian assistance and protection services in 2021. This includes 1 million people identified at the start of 2021 as part of the original HRP and an additional 2 million people identified after 1 February. The total requirement for the two plans amounted to US$385 million (HRP 2021 at US$276 million and IERP 2021 at US$109 million).”
“In total, humanitarians met their target of reaching 3 million people with some form of assistance at least once in 2021. However, access and funding constraints meant that humanitarians were not able to deliver the depth of assistance to these people that they had planned, with food assistance accounting for the bulk of the result. Donors contributed a total of $230 million (60 per cent of the combined HRP and IERP requirements) in support of the two plans.”
The Contributions by Donors (in US$ million) table shows: United States 69, United Kingdom 22, Australia 20, EU-ECHO (European Community Humanitarian Aid Office) 19, Germany 17, CERF (Central Emergency Response) Fund 12, Sweden 10, Japan 7, Norway 7, Switzerland 7, Ireland 6, Canada 5, UNOPS 5, EU-DevCO (Development and Cooperation) 3, New Zealand 2, and Other 18.
According to the table “Funding by Sector/Cluster (in US$ million)” from the Financial Tracking System on page 5: Percentage of HRP & IERP requirement received for 2021 from actually targeted or aimed figures were: Education 9%, Food Security 51%, Health 32%, Nutrition 31%, Protection 54%, Shelter/Non-Food Items (NFI)/Camp Communication & Camp Management (CCCM) 13%, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) 33%, and Coordination 59% respectively.
The People Reached by State/Region in 2021 map shows: the top five as Yangon 1.8 million, Rakhine with 242K, Kachin 237K, Karen 103K, and Shan 61K, followed by Ayeyawaddy 59K, Chin 52K, Mon 41K, Sagaing 24K, Mandalay 14K, Bago 11K, Magwe 5K, and Tanintharyi 4K respectively.
“With surging displacement in new areas, the Shelter, NFI and CCM Cluster scaled up its response including in new areas. In 2021, partners reached more than 367,000 people, including in areas outside the initial HRP locations within the scope of the IERP (for example, more than 49,000 people in Kayah) in response to new displacement. A total of 2,895 shelter units were completed (new construction, repair and renovation) in camps in Kachin and northern Shan (out of 3,381 units planned) reaching 27 per cent of the overall needs in camps. Partners further constructed 226 makeshift shelters to support newly displaced people and 455 new transitional shelter solutions to support IDPs' transition out of camps.”
SHAN STATE AID
In November 2021, the Myanmar Information Management Unit, funded by European Union, released a one-sheet report titled “Agencies' Activities in Shan State at a Glance”.
The 3W (WHO, WHERE, WHAT) Results of Shan State covering Non-displaced Populations (focus on Development or Other Vulnerable Groups) and Displaced Populations and Host Communities includes 47 INGOs, 13 Local NGOs & CBOs & CSOs, 8 UN agencies, 5 Red Cross, and 2 other International Organizations.
Accordingly, under the WHO heading, 21 agencies were said to be active for Displaced Populations and Host Communities.
Under the WHERE category Areas of Implementation, they show 165 village tracts/towns and 30 IDP camps, covering 18 Townships.
Under WHAT the Number of Projects were 21. Main Interventions reported were Protection, Livelihoods, Health, WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), and Nutrition. Other interventions reported were Shelter, Mine Action, Coordination, Social Protection, Peace Building/Conflict Prevention, Infrastructure, Food, Disaster Risk Reduction and CCCM (Camp Coordination and Camp Management).
Under CHANGE in the last 6 months were more activities under the following categories: Protection, Health, Livelihoods, Shelter, Disaster Risk Reduction, Nutrition and Infrastructure. Less activities were Mine Action, Food, CCCM and Social Protection.
HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE PLAN 2022
According to the UNHCR report of 11 February 2022: “In all locations, UNHCR and partners distributed relief items including tarpaulins, ropes, blankets, kitchen sets, mosquito nets, buckets, sleeping mats, sanitary kits, COVID-19 personal protective equipment, solar lamps, and winterization kits for adults and children.”
“In Shan State, where a growing number of IDPs have arrived from conflict-affected Kayah State since the start of 2022, UNHCR recently established a temporary base in Taunggyi to coordinate distribution of emergency aid with partners.”
“Provision of relief items to Kayah IDPs in and around Taunggyi started in mid-January and quickly expanded
to incorporate neighbouring townships. Within a month, UNHCR and partners were able to reach some 10,000 IDPs in Shan as well as 2,000 in Kayah.”
“Additional funding for the 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) which requests US$826 million to reach 6.2 million people in need of life-saving support is critical. Almost a quarter of the way into the year, a number of clusters are reporting major resource gaps with no funding yet received by some sectors in 2022,” according to the report of Myanmar Humanitarian Update No. 16 on 19 March 2022 published by UNOCHA.
While exact humanitarian aid specifically to be allotted to the IDPs in Shan State is unavailable, the HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE PLAN 2022, the document consolidated by OCHA on behalf of the
Humanitarian Country Team and partners, under “Planning Figures by Cluster and by Geography - Planned Humanitarian Response by Location” indicates: “From the projected population of the whole of Shan State’s 6.5 million, 83K people are targeted in Shan (East) for 11.0M US$; 352K people in Shan (North) for 47.0M US$; and 128K people in Shan (South) for 17.1M US$.”
It also listed the IDP population in northern and southern Shan State as 16K and 15K respectively, with “Returned Resettled and Locally Integrated IDPs” as 4K each in both northern and southern Shan State.
The overall IDP population according to the report is 556K, under the Table of “Humanitarian Response by Targeted Groups”.
However, the southern Shan State five IDP camps (Loi Kaw Wan, Loi Sam Sip, Loi Lam, Loi Tai Leng, Kong Moong Merng) along the Thai-Shan border have not received any humanitarian assistance since 2017 from any INGOs or UN agencies according to the camps' inhabitants. They have been assisted to survive under the arrangement of the Shan State Refugee Committee (Thai Border) together with the vast Shan community in northern Thailand and elsewhere, according to the Shan sources.
CURRENT SITUATION
According to a Xinhua 18 March report: “There are 889,900 displaced people, including 370,000 already displaced before the military takeover a little more than one year ago,” said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, referring to the situation in the whole of Myanmar.
Humanitarian needs are growing. But access to people in need remains limited, hampering the planned scale-up of humanitarian assistance in 2022, Dujarric said. "Clashes, road blockages and military checkpoints limit our access to areas where needs are critical."
The United Nations 2022 humanitarian response plan for Myanmar, which seeks 826 million US dollars, is only 6 percent funded, Dujarric said. "We urge donors to give generously in solidarity with the people of Myanmar."
OUTLOOK
Given such circumstances, the Humanitarian Response Plan 2022 may face a lot of hurdles in its implementation on the ground in terms of outreach across Myanmar, and Shan State specifically.
Firstly, there is a challenge in providing assistance to needy people as the military junta is fighting resistance movements countrywide and any aid destined for areas not controlled by the regime will be blocked.
Secondly, with the world focused on the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war and priority being given to help the Ukrainians, Myanmar aid may be scaled down if not stopped altogether.
Thirdly, if we look at the funding fulfilment pattern of the donors, it is decreasing yearly. For example, in
2020 the funding was 67% and for 2021 58% of the required amount, according to the Humanitarian Response Plan 2022 report.
Finally, according to the Fulcrum report of 21 January published by ISEAS and the Yusof Ishak Institute, the situation for IDPs in Myanmar is dire: “A year after the coup, Myanmar’s humanitarian sector is shrinking. There is no solution in sight to assist those in need while avoiding issues of regime legitimacy. The people who are in survival mode cannot wait for drawn-out discussions on political legitimacy and political settlements in Myanmar.”
Shan State matters in terms of its size and the nature of the IDPs – displaced locals and people who have fled from neighbouring states – but given a drop in humanitarian aid funding and the troubled practicalities of delivering aid, those in need are likely to struggle to survive.
