I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £35,500 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st March, 1970, for contributions to the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations, the Intergovernmental Legal Bodies and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; and for other expenses in connection therewith.
The additional sums are required for:
(1) a special contribution of $25,000 to UNICEF in respect of emergency relief and rehabilitation of women and children in war-affected areas of Nigeria, and
(2) a contribution of £25,000 to UNICEF towards the expenses of chartering a ship for the transport of relief supplies and equipment for the humanitarian assistance of the victims of the Nigerian conflict.
Deputies are only too well aware of the desperate plight of the victims of the Nigerian conflict. The suffering of the civilian population as a result of widespread famine and disease over the last two years has been brought home to us all by the sad pictures of emaciated men and women and skeleton-like children which have been shown to us by the relief organisations and on television and in the press. The Nigerian tragedy has caused civilian suffering on a scale unknown for a long time, and in all this suffering the children have been the greatest victims.
I have already told the Dáil on 20th November the Government's proposals for providing humanitarian assistance for the victims of the Nigerian conflict in the current financial year. As I stated at that time, I am considering further ways in which we can help and I shall inform the Dáil of what we propose, as soon as we have finalised our plans. In moving this supplementary estimate I intend to confine my remarks to the question of providing assistance out of public funds through the United Nations Children's Fund.
Since January, 1968, UNICEF has been providing emergency aid for the victims on both sides of the Nigerian conflict. The report of the 1969 session of the executive board of UNICEF last May states that the particular concern of UNICEF in the Nigerian relief crisis has been to try to see to it that adequate stocks of food suitable for children are available for forwarding to the relief area; to strengthen attention in the over-all relief effort given to the care of children and the cure and prevention of child starvation and malnutrition; to supply drugs particularly required for children and to contribute to transport requirements. At that session, the board allocated an additional $1.6 million for the Nigerian emergency programme of which $1 million was to be used for the continuation of emergency aid—largely for drugs and medical supplies—and the balance to start rehabilitation of health and education services.
By the end of November, 1969, UNICEF had shipped well over 100 million pounds weight of food, drugs and other supplies. UNICEF had received donations and pledges for the Nigerian emergency aid programme valued at over $18 million, mostly in kind, from governmental sources and UNICEF itself had allocated a total of almost $3½ million to cover the cost of food, drugs, freight and operating expenses of the programme. These supplies have been transported and distributed for the most part either through the Red Cross or through the Catholic and Protestant church groups on both sides of the fighting line. In addition UNICEF is now engaged in rehabilitation programmes in the field of health and education in several of the disturbed areas in the wake of the war.
The Government are particularly concerned as regards the suffering of the children. There have been recent reports of grave deterioration in the physical condition of the children and their mothers inside the Biafran enclave. In the other disturbed areas we understand that there is still grave malnutrition, including pockets of famine, and there are many places where rehabilitation proper has yet to begin. In addition, there are constant threats to the survival of the child population—kwashiorkor, marasmus, measles, tuberculosis and the possible resurgence of yellow fever and smallpox on an epidemic scale. It is in this most vital field that UNICEF is doing such excellent work, on both sides, and it is to help UNICEF in this work that the Government propose allocating the $25,000 for which I am asking the approval of the Dáil. This is a relatively small contribution but we would hope in the next financial year to consider further ways for helping the UNICEF programmes for Nigerian relief and rehabilitation as necessary.
The second part of the Government's proposed contribution to UNICEF for Nigerian relief aid is a contribution specifically intended to assist relief transport requirements. As a result of a charter signed last month between UNICEF and Africa Concern Ltd., and a subsequent agreement reached between UNICEF and the Nigerian authorities, the relief ship Columcille is being placed by its owners Africa Concern Ltd. at the disposal of UNICEF for the shipment of bona fide relief supplies and equipment to ports of the Nigerian seaboard or of nearby countries, or from such ports, for the relief of victims of the present conflict in Nigeria. The charter is to extend for a period of four months with an option for an additional two months if UNICEF so require. The Government propose paying UNICEF a sum of not more than £25,000 for the actual costs of the first four months of the charter. Both Africa Concern and UNICEF and also the Nigerian authorities will each make their own contribution to the costs of running the relief ship during the period of charter.
The main reason for our wishing to make this practical contribution to Nigerian relief has been the need since the ending of the co-ordinating role of the international committee of the Red Cross last June to provide adequate relief transport facilities in succession to the excellent system which the ICRC had established and put into operation. The shortage of financial resources of both the Nigerian National Commission for Rehabilitation and the Nigerian Red Cross have not made easy the building up of new transport and distribution facilities. As a result, although relief supplies are available —in fact the ICRC handed over large stocks of relief supplies to the Nigerian Red Cross on 30th September—due to insufficient transport the relief cannot reach some of the areas where it is most needed. It was to meet this need, that the Government initiated the discussions between Africa Concern and UNICEF about the Columcille. This vessel had previously transported relief along the Nigerian coast under a similar agreement for the ICRC and at that time the ship was found very suitable both because of the shallow draft of the ship itself and the able handling by the master and his crew. I hope that the Columcille's period of service under UNICEF will continue to be successful in bringing relief to the victims of the war in the disturbed area along the Nigerian coast, in the mid west, in the rivers and in the south east states.
Finally, I should point out that the Irish National Committee for UNICEF has long been active in supporting UNICEF's programmes in Nigeria Biafra. To date the national committee has transferred £25,000 to UNICEF for this purpose, a sum generously contributed by the Irish people. I hope that the public, particularly in this Christmas month, will continue to support UNICEF through the national committee in the vital work that the organisation is performing both in Nigeria and in so many other parts of the world on behalf of, and for the benefit of children.