LONDON — Western anti-terror laws are forcing aid agencies in Syria to avoid communities controlled by extremist groups, making it harder to deliver vital supplies and leaving people vulnerable to radicalization, a Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation found.
A survey of 21 international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) found government donors and banks were also demanding more in-depth audits in the two years since militant group Daesh (so-called IS)took root, sending costs spiraling.
Successive terror attacks in the United States and Europe have put governments under pressure to enact laws and impose controls to track the financing of extremist groups, including through SWIFT, the most widely used platform for bank transactions.
While acknowledging the need for tougher laws, NGOs surveyed said operating in jihadi-run areas in Syria made them vulnerable to being blacklisted in the United States and European Union countries where the groups are branded “terrorists”.
One international NGO which responded to the confidential survey said it had had to move some of its assistance programs to other areas in Syria “because of difficulties dealing with armed groups and fears of running afoul of anti-terrorism laws”.
The NGO’s country director for Syria said demands for additional compliance were also hampering its activities in the areas most affected by conflict.
“Anti-terrorism legislation and licensing requirements reduce our nimbleness and slow down our effectiveness in reaching vulnerable people because of onerous reporting,” the country director said.
The Syrian NGO Alliance (SNA), a consortium of 90 NGOs working in the country, said its members were having to cancel projects because they could not keep up with the paperwork required by donors.
“This is really bad for Syrian people, who end up being more vulnerable to joining the terrorist groups because they do not get the humanitarian assistance,” said SNA coordinator Fadi Hakim.
“The other option for many of them is to then join the exodus of Syrian refugees.”
The Thomson Reuters Foundation was unable to calculate how many civilians were affected by aid agencies’ decision to steer clear of certain areas in Syria.
But the survey data revealed that the bureaucratic workload had risen by an average of 7,000 extra man hours per charity in the two years since Daesh had taken root, the equivalent of three full-time staff. — Reuters
