The Asian tsunami: the challenge after the Jakarta summit, Oxfam briefing note

This brief summarizes the clear priorities for governments and others as an outcome of the emergency summit meeting held on 6 January 2005 in Jakarta. The meeting represented world governments’ unprecedented response to the tsunami that struck the countries around the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004. After it, the clear priorities for governments and others are to: contribute the full US$ 977 million requested by the UN Secretary General for urgent humanitarian aid in the immediate future; make a ‘double humanitarian pledge’ at the donors’ meeting on 11 January; support the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator as the leader of international humanitarian assistance; contribute further military assets in response to UN request; ensure that affected minority and opposition groups receive aid without discrimination; swiftly fund reconstruction strategies; confirm that all tsunami-related aid is in addition to existing aid commitments and will not be taken from current aid budgets; agree a moratorium on debt repayments from affected countries when the Paris Club meets on 12 January; remove EU and US tariff barriers to textile and clothing exports from tsunami-affected countries; encourage transnational clothing companies to defer any decision to shift production out of tsunami-affected countries; use the extraordinary momentum of the international response to make 2005 the year in which governments effectively aim to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, by immediately providing additional aid worth at least US$ 50 billion, canceling debt for the poorest countries, and preparing to conclude the Doha Trade Round in 2006 to make global trade rules work for the poor.