Norway, one of the world's leading humanitarian donors, is seeking stronger co-ordination with partners such as Gulf states to help bridge funding gaps at a time of soaring needs worldwide, the country's Minister of International Development said.
For decades, Norway has stood out among donor nations by contributing about 1 per cent of its gross national income to international aid – well above the UN target of 0.7 per cent for developed countries – but with traditional donors stretched thin and global crises worsening, Asmund Aukrust says closer co-operation is vital for sustained aid delivery.
“Even though we have a very high development and humanitarian budget, we are still a small country,” he told The National in Abu Dhabi, one of the stops on his visit to the region. “What we think is the best way forward is to be even better co-ordinated with other donors and that's the main reason I chose to come here to the Gulf.”
The global humanitarian funding gap has become increasingly stark, especially after large cuts in US aid worldwide. A study published in The Lancet in July predicted the US cuts will result in 14 million deaths over the next five years.
Mr Aukrust was in Saudi Arabia before the UAE and then departed to Qatar to attend the Second World Summit for Social Development. He said he was in the region to “learn more about their development and humanitarian work, and also to see if there are more things that we can do together” and to ensure that “we are using every dollar as efficiently as possible”.
He expressed his optimism before the summit in Doha, saying the world has made “enormous improvements” since the first was held in Copenhagen 30 years ago. “There were people deciding that they wanted to have a different world. We can decide it again,” he said.
Gulf nations such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have become increasingly prominent humanitarian donors in recent years, channelling billions through national aid agencies and other funds, largely targeting crises in the Middle East and Africa.
“The UAE has been contributing a lot. And I really thank them for the very important job that they have done in contributing with humanitarian aid,” Mr Aukrust said. Abu Dhabi has been at the forefront of efforts to deliver aid to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
“I saw that myself when I was in Rafah, a lot of goods that were ready to be delivered were sent by the UAE, so I really thank them for that,” he said of his trip last month to the Egyptian border crossing into Gaza.
Norway has been a consistent humanitarian supporter of the Palestinian people and has played a pivotal role in related affairs, most famously as a facilitator of the 1993 Oslo Accords. These marked the first direct agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, laying the groundwork for Palestinian self-government.
Since then, Oslo has maintained strong diplomatic ties with the Palestinian Authority, providing development assistance and aid.
“Norway has been engaged also for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades and I think that's also maybe the reason that Norway had a clearer voice than most other European countries,” Mr Aukrust said.
“Gaza has been an extremely brutal war and what's been happening in the [occupied] West Bank has been in the shadow,” he said. While Israel waged a deadly war on the Gaza Strip following an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, killings, arrests and settler violence have increased in the West Bank during the same period.
A US-brokered ceasefire came into effect in the Gaza Strip last month but violations have continued. “The situation in the West Bank has not improved after the peace plan,” the minister said, referring to US President Donald Trump's proposal for a truce in the enclave.
He stressed a key priority for Norway remains a two-state solution, “with Israelis and Palestinians living side by side” but that the decision-making process should include Palestinians. “They should be around the table and in the end, it should be owned by the Palestinians themselves.”
Another crisis high on Oslo's agenda is the civil war in Sudan that has caused a humanitarian catastrophe.
“Sudan has been the place on the Earth where most people have suffered for the last two and a half years and when we believe it can't be worse, it continues to get even worse,” he said of the developments in El Fasher, where the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification on Monday warned famine had broken out.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) besieged El Fasher for 18 months, cutting off tens of thousands of people from food and other essential supplies, before taking over the city last week. Civilians who fled the city told of mass killings, torture, rape and extortion by the RSF.
The war has killed tens of thousands, displaced at least 13 million people and both warring parties have been accused of committing war crimes against civilians.
Mr Aukrust said the demand to all sides is the same – unimpeded humanitarian access to deliver much-needed aid. “Right now, every hour counts, people are dying in front of our eyes because of lack of humanitarian access,” he added.
“Unfortunately, this is probably the most under-communicated crisis in the world. It happens in the shadow of so many other places that are burning at the same time, in Gaza, in Ukraine,” he said, adding that while the process to peace will be long, the priority needs to be an end to fighting to allow humanitarian aid to flow.
