LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 01/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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أميركا: حزب الله أكبر شبكة للجريمة المنظمة بالعالم

UNRWA and Oxfam: Scandal and politics hit humanitarian organizations
Emad Eryan/Al Arabiya/February 28/18
Is it possible to accuse all international humanitarian organizations of indulging in immoral acts on a large scale in the wake of recent scandal that has struck UK-based Oxfam group?
Is it possible to point figures at all these institutions or organizations because of just a few incidents, abuses and attacks committed by some of these organizations? Can we not consider these as isolated incidents and not the norm?
Reviving old doubts
Although these are isolated instances, they remain quite serious offences and are quite disconcerting. They raise doubts about the work of NGOs and international charities, regardless of the humanitarian efforts they provide to the world’s poor and helpless. Moreover, such scandals also revive some of the past charges leveled against these organizations. International nongovernment organizations have often been accused of being a front for intelligence services and for carrying out hidden and illegal tasks for invisible forces. Western authorities in general, particularly America, seem defensive about the work and penetration of these organizations in societies of developing countries, and are accused of carrying out motivated, hideous agendas. Many developing countries even face sanctions because they oppose the violations committed by these organizations. They demand that the work and funding of these organizations should come under local supervision. In the past, these organizations have faced many accusations of having breached their mandate and of being involved in shameful practices, incompatible with their stated objectives. Even international peacekeepers have been found involved in such practices over the decades, such as in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
NGOs have often been accused of being a front for intelligence services and for carrying out hidden and illegal tasks for invisible forces
Today, Oxfam’s ‘immoral’ scandal — which has also tainted the organization Doctors without Borders — show how employees of these organizations take advantage of their authority, particularly on people who are in desperate need of humanitarian aid in crisis-afflicted areas. According to some of the parties that oppose such NGOs, the concept of helping people in need in crisis-hit areas remains vague because those who provide assistance have power, and some of the people who provide help take advantage of their power. International reports have confirmed that the staff of Oxfam did not hold the ‘lewd parties’ after the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010, but such parties may have been held during relief operations in Chad in 2006.
UNRWA targeted
Certainly, this is not the first “immoral” expose to have shaken the international aid community. It has been found that the staff of some relief organizations has been indulging in such crimes against the local citizenry for a long time. Thus, Doctors without Borders disclosed 24 cases of sex abuse or blackmail in 2017, while the ICRC acknowledged three cases of abuse during relief operations in Congo. Aid providers are reported to have misbehaved during the Yugoslav war in the 1990s. In order to assist abused women, German women’s rights organization, Medica Mondiale supported traumatized women in Bosnia during the conflict in Balkans. The NGOs in Cologne continue to help girls and women in war zones and crises till date. If one of the managers of these organizations finds it difficult to enforce checks on all their employees or their behavior, then it would be an even more serious issue. Again, many of these organizations receive aid or support from their governments, which allows security institutions to have a role in managing such organizations, even from behind the scenes, which are greater crimes.
In this regard, we can talk about the brutal campaign against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) led by the US, Israel and other Western countries. What is interesting here is that UNRWA is exposed to this unjust campaign, while it is in dire need of all possible international and regional support, for the great humanitarian work it is providing to Palestinian children, particularly in health and education fields.
There is no doubt that the American-Israeli attitude towards UNRWA is in itself a major international scandal that requires condemnation, even as embarrassing scandals and abuses committed by famous Western relief organizations continue without any word of condemnation.

Saad Hariri and ‘Sophie’s World’
Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/February 28/18
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri participated in the first episode of a television show in which children ask whatever questions pop up in their minds. Hariri answered questions, which reminded us of the simple origins of matters much more than the questions of “presumptuous” journalists do.
The program, which airs on the Lebanese MTV channel, is called The Bell Has Rung. It’s the Lebanese version of a foreign show in which students aged between 10 and 12 meet with public figures and ask them questions. The conversation with the students, both male and female, was longer than an hour. They asked all sorts of questions including personal questions about the premier’s Iraqi mother, step-mother, his late brother Hussam, whom he was closest to, and about his late father Rafiq whose death continues to influence the Lebanese scene although it’s been more than 10 years since he was assassinated by those who accused him of treason.
Are there politicians in Lebanon brave enough to confront children’s unplanned questions, other than Saad Hariri who did not fully give up the politician’s trait of answering questions without revealing too much?
They also asked him about his relation with Saudi Arabia (Hariri has Saudi nationality) and with Lebanon where he’s originally from and how he entered the world of politics after his father was killed.One of the most interesting questions was by a student named Leya Qassab who is around 10 years old. “Do you have a minute to explain to us the difference between Sunnis and Shiites?” she asked the prime minister. Hariri tried to answer this “basic” question and said: “There is no difference between Sunnis and Shiites.” He wrote on the board in an attempt to explain this to them and concluded: “To me.. it’s a political dispute.”
The most difficult question
Truth be told, the most difficult questions are those of children because the latter have not been “tamed” yet within the social framework. Therefore, they can ask and inquire all they want. Family magazines always include tips on how mothers should deal with children’s embarrassing questions. From a philosophical perspective, children’s questions constitute a special field of research. A real philosopher is he who maintains the child’s continuous astonishment. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says: “The philosophy of childhood has recently come to be recognized as an area of inquiry analogous to the philosophy of science, the philosophy of history, the philosophy of religion, and the many other ‘philosophy of’ subjects that are already considered legitimate areas of philosophical study.” The book Sophie’s World by Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder, which was translated into several languages, is about a child protagonist exploring philosophy thanks to her continuous amazement with the universe and man. Amazement is the first childhood trait.
Are there politicians in Lebanon who are brave enough to confront children’s unplanned questions, other than Saad Hariri who did not fully give up the politician’s trait of answering questions without revealing too much?