In an interview today about the cyclone in Burma, Foreign Secretary David Miliband assured viewers that British aid would be channeled through “organisations like Save the Children, who rightly have a very high reputation.”

Save the Children is indeed a reputable organisation, but Miliband’s respect for it seems to be rather selective. Earlier this year Save the Children UK co-authored a report describing a “humanitarian implosion” in the Gaza Strip. It emphasised that the “unprecedented humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, where children comprise over half the population, is “man-made, completely avoidable and, with the necessary political will, can also be reversed.” That is, unlike in Burma, the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is completely manufactured. It is not a consequence of some unforeseen natural disaster, but is rather the intended result of policies designed to force the “impoverishment of an entire population.” The report concluded that the current Israeli and international approach is “failing at all levels” and called for an end to the siege and “political dialogue with all Palestinian parties.”

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