Ngo And International Development Essay

We live in an imperfect world where citizens are continuously plagued with problems caused by lack of opportunities or through bad leadership of states that immerses these people into problems not of their own making. These problems are many and diverse ranging form wars, human rights abuse, famine and natural calamities. Many governments are not equipped to respond adequately to those adversities and it becomes necessary for Ngo’s to intervene. However some countries have continued to frustrate the work of such institutions for different reasons and North Korea becomes a classic example of such a totalitarian government limiting the operations of such organizations. Ngo’s operations in North Korea Ngo’s are viewed with great skepticism by the government of South Korea as they go about their work. This is because the government is greatly paranoid of foreign presence in the country and aid workers are usually treated with the same disdain accorded foreign delegations from the west (Gordon, l. & Snyder, S. 2003). However the degree of freedom and responsibility given to ngo’s depends mainly on the political relation of South Korea and the nationality of the ngo in question. For instance ngo’s from America and South Korea are the worst affected while their counter parts form Europe enjoy more privileges. Therefore organizations from countries perceived with hostility are not even granted permanent stay hampering their efforts to help the needy. All ngo’s however encounter a similar problem since they are not usually allowed access to the people in their problem evaluations and expected to rely on government guidelines in pursuit of their goals. Furthermore hey have to contend with constant monitoring by state agencies hat limit their response abilities. However there are hopes that the situation is improving since 1995 when the government of North Korea asked for assistance from the international community in response to food shortage (Smith, 2002). It is perceived that the problem that ngo’s faced is due to the country’s failure to comprehend the underlying principles that from the basis for humanitarian assistance by ngo’s. However recent acts by the government to eject food assistance by the U S government and the threat to evict all organizations from the U S might erode all the steps gained in diplomacy and relation ad discourage aid organizations from the country (Radia, 2009). Conclusion It is quite clear that organizations have found it hard to work in North Korea but it is unacceptable for some organizations to quite since such help is vital for those in suffering. Furthermore the gates opened by these organizations allow for an improvement in relations with foreign country and this might in the long run improve the conditions both for these institutions and for the people of North Korea. References Gordon, l. & Snyder, S. (2003). Paved With Good Intentions: The NGO Experience in North Korea. West port: Praeger Publishers. Radia, k. (2009). Abc news: North Korea Rejects US Food Aid, Kicks Out US NGOs. Retreved March 19, 2009, from http://blogs. abcnews. com/politicalradar/2009/03/north-korea-can. html. Smith, H. (2002). Unied States Institute of Peace: Overcoming Humanitarian Dilemmas in the DPRK (North Korea). Retreved March 19, 2009, from http://www. usip. org/pubs/specialreports/sr90. html.