The politicization of humanitarian aid and its effect on the principles of humanity, impartiality and neutrality

Volberg, Thorsten

The politicization of humanitarian aid and its effect on the principles of humanity, impartiality and neutrality

Politik - Internationale Politik - Thema: Völkerrecht und Menschenrechte

Zusammenfassung

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract:
The past two decades have seen a significant increase in frequency and intensity of complex emergencies and natural disasters, leading to a rapid transformation in the policy and the institutional context of humanitarianism. Humanitarian assistance, which once covered a very narrow set of basic relief activities carried out by a small group of relatively independent actors, has expanded significantly to an ever-widening and much more complex range of rehabilitation work. This includes the definition of aid as being a starting-point for addressing poverty or being a tool for peace-building in internal conflicts. A growing diversity of non-humanitarian actors in the field, such as various profit agencies, governmental and non-governmental armed forces, also changed the picture of humanitarian aid and the perception of its character. This transformation has created a broad variety of standards for performance in the field, and led to increasing uncertainties on the quality of humanitarian responses and its accountability.
Humanitarian catastrophes, like the Rwandan genocide, finally forced humanitarian agencies to think beyond traditional relief assistance based on the delivery of food, shelter or basic health care, and take a deeper reflection on how they actually perceive their own role and accountability in the humanitarian sphere. In 1997, the Sphere project was launched to develop inter alia a so-called Humanitarian Charter, which tries to put relief aid on a legal basis provided by international law. It emphasizes humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality and impartiality and expresses agencies commitment to act in accordance with them. These principles provide an ethical framework, which defines and delineates the humanitarian space within which NGOs are supposed to operate. Sphere and its commitment to these traditional principles have both supporters and critics within the humanitarian system, especially when it comes to its usefulness in addressing the complexity of political factors surrounding an emergency situation.
Humanitarian assistance has always been a highly political activity, as it involves engaging authorities in conflict-affected countries or relying on financial support that can be driven by a donors political considerations. Nowadays, relief organizations seem to remain even less in control of their working environment due to expanding peacekeeping and military-led missions of the […]

Leseprobe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Thorsten Volberg

The politicization of humanitarian aid and its effect on the principles of humanity,

impartiality and neutrality

ISBN: 978-3-8366-0181-8

Druck Diplomica® GmbH, Hamburg, 2007

Zugl. Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Deutschland, MA-Thesis / Master, 2006

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Contents

Page

I. List of acronyms

II. Abstract

1. Introduction

1.1. Introduction to the topic

1.2. Methodology

1.3. Setup of paper

2. The humanitarian sphere

2.1. Humanitarian threats

2.1.1. Natural disasters

2.1.2. Complex emergencies

2.2. Environment of humanitarian response

2.3. Principles and standards

2.3.1. The `Red Cross Code of Conduct'

2.3.2. The `Sphere' project

2.3.2.1. `Sphere' minimum standards

2.3.2.2. `Humanitarian Charter' and humanitarian principles

3. The political environment of humanitarian aid

3.1. Western humanitarian aid

3.1.1. Influence of Western foreign policy

3.1.2. Perception of Western NGOs

3.1.3. Faith based NGOs

3.2. External involvement

3.2.1. Donor influence on humanitarian aid

3.2.1.1. Donor activities and `Sphere'

3.2.1.2. Bilaterization of humanitarian aid

3.2.2. Responsibilities of host governments

3.2.2.1. Host governments and `Sphere'

3.2.2.2. Difficulties of governmental interaction

3.2.3. Conflict regions

3.2.3.1. Humanitarian agencies in conflict regions 46

3.2.3.2. Local armed forces

3.2.4. Military involvement

4. Humanitarian principles in a political environment

4.1. Humanity

4.2. Impartiality

4.3. Neutrality

4.3.1. Controversies surrounding neutrality

4.3.2. Neutrality and local politics

4.4. Ambiguous approach of principles

4.4.1. Afghanistan

4.4.2. Serbia

4.4.3. Iraq

4.5. Solidarity

5. Conclusion

6. Annex

7. Bibliography

I. List of acronyms

ALNAP

Active Learning Network for Accountability and

Performance in Humanitarian Action

CAP

UN's Consolidated Appeal Process

CIMIC

Civil-military Cooperation

DAC

Development Assistance Committee

DHA

UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs

ECHO

European Community Humanitarian Aid

Department

IASC

Inter-Agency Standing Committee

ICRC

International Committee of the Red Cross

IHL

International Humanitarian Law

IRC

International Rescue Committee

IRIN

Integrated Regional Information Networks

MDG

Millennium Development Goals

MSF

Médecins Sans Frontiéres

NGHA

Non-governmental Humanitarian Agency

NGO

Non-governmental Organization

NPA

Norwegian People's Aid

OCHA

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian

Assistance

ODA

Official Development Assistance

ODI

Overseas Development Institute

PMF

Private Military Forces

UNHCR

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNDP

United Nations Development Programme

UNU

United Nations University

USAID

United States Agency for International

Development

II. Abstract

The humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality and impartiality provide

an ethical framework that defines and delineates the humanitarian space within

which relief agencies are supposed to operate. Current experiences, however,

show that these traditional principles were not designed to cope with the de-

velopment underlying the increasing merging of humanitarian aid and politics.

To avoid political manipulation, relief organizations must rethink these tradi-

tional principles and face the responsibility of getting more involved in the

broader political arena to be able to take appropriate action, and to avoid long-

term damages on a society.

The `Sphere' project, which was launched to improve the quality of humani-

tarian action and to put relief aid on a legal basis as set forth by international

law, acknowledges the dependence of humanitarian aid on external political

decisions. Still, it emphasizes traditional principles and expresses agencies'

commitment to act in accordance with them. `Sphere's actual value must there-

fore be seen in defining a common basis around which agencies, donors and

governing authorities can potentially agree on. It provides a basis for defining

core humanitarian responsibilities that recognizes the limits of humanitarian

action, while setting an agenda for individual and collective action.

Even though the attempt to define humanitarian principles that serve as blue-

prints in every global emergency for all humanitarian organizations does not

seem to be achievable, the importance of ethical guidelines and benchmarks

still exists. The heterogeneity of relief work is just a phenomenon, which is

based in the nature of humanitarianism and this will always put a stamp on at-

tempts to find common standards, principles and codes.

1. Introduction

"To what extent do you justify sacrificing the humanitarian

imperative to long-term political strategy? We are not de-

bating this -- it is in the "too difficult" tray." (Michael

Moller, Department of Political Affairs, in: Humanitarian

Policy Group Report 8, ODI, London)

1.1. Introduction to the topic

The past two decades have seen a significant increase in frequency and intensity

of complex emergencies and natural disasters, leading to a rapid transformation in

the policy and the institutional context of humanitarianism. Humanitarian assis-

tance, which once covered a very narrow set of basic relief activities carried out

by a small group of relatively independent actors, has expanded significantly to an

ever-widening and much more complex range of rehabilitation work. This in-

cludes the definition of aid as being a starting-point for addressing poverty or be-

ing a tool for peace-building in internal conflicts. A growing diversity of "non-

humanitarian" actors in the field, such as various profit agencies, governmental

and non-governmental armed forces, also changed the picture of humanitarian aid

and the perception of its character. This transformation has created a broad variety

of standards for performance in the field, and led to increasing uncertainties on the

quality of humanitarian responses and its accountability.

Humanitarian catastrophes, like the Rwandan genocide, finally forced humanitar-

ian agencies to think beyond traditional relief assistance based on the delivery of

food, shelter or basic health care, and take a deeper reflection on how they actu-

ally perceive their own role and accountability in the humanitarian sphere. In

1997, the `Sphere' project was launched to develop inter alia a so-called `Hu-

manitarian Charter', which tries to put relief aid on a legal basis provided by in-

ternational law. It emphasizes humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality and

impartiality and expresses agencies' commitment to act in accordance with them.

These principles provide an ethical framework, which defines and delineates the

humanitarian space within which NGOs are supposed to operate. `Sphere' and its

commitment to these traditional principles have both supporters and critics within

the humanitarian system, especially when it comes to its usefulness in addressing

the complexity of political factors surrounding an emergency situation.

Humanitarian assistance has always been a highly political activity, as it involves

engaging authorities in conflict-affected countries or relying on financial support

that can be driven by a donor's political considerations. Nowadays, relief organi-

zations seem to remain even less in control of their working environment due to

expanding peacekeeping and "military-led" missions of the United Nations, re-

gional organizations or major Western powers in armed conflicts. Furthermore,

they are confronted with a growing scale of human rights abuses and the targeting

of civilians, including humanitarian workers. However, the necessity to interact

with armed groups started to blur the line between military policies and relief mis-

sions, making humanitarian action appear to be increasingly tied to the overall

political response of donor countries to complex emergencies. This working envi-

ronment is making it difficult for relief organization to maintain their neutrality

and to avoid political manipulation.

For humanitarian workers, it is a moral obligation to provide aid wherever it may

be needed, and the alleviation of suffering in humanitarian crises is supposed to be

the basic motivation in this context. Despite the pronouncements and practices of

relief actors to ensure that their actions confer no military advantage and that they

are driven solely on the basis of need, the humanitarian principles of neutrality

and impartiality are under constant assault. Several developments, most impor-

tantly the fact that in many current wars belligerents reject the very notion that

war has limits and attacks on civilians and other abuses of International Humani-

tarian Law (IHL) is part of a deliberate strategy, have led to the question whether

this ethical framework is still achievable in practice.

This paper examines the difficult realities in a heterogenic humanitarian environ-

ment, by addressing all the complex legal and political issues surrounding an

emergency, including the impact of external actors like donors, host governments,

and armed forces. It therefore provides a realistic understanding of the possibili-

ties and limits of traditional principles, rethinks their value in current crisis re-

sponses, and delineates the attempt to create and clarify new ones. In this regard,

the paper further analyzes the `Sphere' process, which commits participating

agencies to act in accordance to these principles, on how far it is taking political

influences on humanitarian aid into consideration, and can thus actually be seen as

a reasonable guideline for relief organizations in the 21

century.

1.2. Methodology

The research for this master's paper delves into contemporary literature regarding

the topic of how traditional humanitarian principles cope with current political in-

fluences on humanitarian aid. During the course of this study, a broad variety of

literature resources have been analyzed, including publications from multilateral

institutions like the UN, editorials from humanitarian experts in different aca-

demic institutions or NGOs, to field reports from local practitioners. A wide spec-

trum of opinions is covered in this paper, with the call for extreme political domi-

nance over humanitarian issues at one end, to pure humanitarianism, with its em-

phasis on neutrality and independence, at the other. Publications and research pa-

pers published by the `Humanitarian Practice Network' (HPN), an independent

policy research group, have served as a very competent source throughout my

work on this topic. HPN is part of the `Overseas Development Institute' (ODI),

Britain's leading independent think-tank on international development and hu-

manitarian issues.

The `Sphere' process has been integrated into this paper by analyzing how it actu-

ally has been aware of the phenomenon of humanitarian aid becoming increas-

ingly politicized. In preparation for this paper, I appreciated the opportunity of

interviewing Alison Joyner, Sphere project manager; and Veronica Foubert,

Sphere Materials and Training Support Officer, at the `International Committee of

the Red Cross' (ICRC) headquarters in Geneva. Both have been very helpful in

clarifying the actual meaning of the `Sphere' process, which supported the aim of

giving a comprehensive analysis on this project through robust literature reviews

and various sources of information.

1.3. Setup of paper

After this introduction, Chapter 2 provides a brief overview of the working field

in which humanitarian action is taking place, especially the impact of natural dis-

asters and man-made complex emergencies on societies. It further focuses on the

attempt to find international humanitarian standards to consolidate and regulate

humanitarian action, taking the `Sphere' process as the recently most prominent

example. The main focus here resides less on the agreement of certain minimum

standards, which aim to put a theoretical foundation into practice, but more on

`Sphere's `Humanitarian Charter' and the leading humanitarian principles of

humanity, impartiality and neutrality. Chapter 3 gives an overview on the context

and scenario of the political environment, which both influences humanitarian

work and sometimes even dominates the perception of relief aid in recipient

states. This section also points out the geopolitical trends in aid policy and the

extremely complex realities that put humanitarian actors in danger of being

misused to assert political, military or strategic objectives. Chapter 4 focuses on

the limits of traditional humanitarian principles in terms of recent political

developments and strategic choices that occurred. It also gives new perspectives

on how NGOs can reinterpret these principles without limiting their ethical value.

Finally, Chapter 5 provides overall conclusions and recommendations.

2. The humanitarian sphere

2.1. Humanitarian threats

Since the end of the Cold War, an increasing occurrence of natural and human-

caused disasters, including armed conflicts, has become a central issue for the in-

ternational community. These humanitarian emergencies have led to an extensive

loss of life, damage to property, and the long-term destruction of the environment.

Many times, disasters have forced countries to postpone national development

programs and exasperated already difficult social, economic, and environmental

conditions, particularly in human settlements.

Even so, every single emergency is accompanied by a high amount of human

casualties, with over 1.5 million people being killed by natural disasters in the past

two decades. The destructiveness of extreme natural events usually depends more

on the number of vulnerable people impacted in the disaster region than on the

magnitude of the event per se. Annually, drought affects some 220 million people,

flooding 196 million, cyclones 119 million, and over 130 million people live in

earthquake risk zones (UNDP, 2004: 1-8).

Figure 2.a. Economic losses caused by natural disasters, 1950-2002

It is important to note that the numbers of people killed by natural disasters is decreasing, in part

due to better satellite forecasting, improved early warning systems, and improved community pre-

paredness in some countries such as India and Bangladesh, apart from 2004 when numbers soared

because of the tsunami effect (Oxfam, 2000: 2).

Figure 2.b. Number of fatalities (2002)

An additional 31 million people are affected by conflict, leading to approximately

2.3 million casualties between 1991 and 2000, leaving 4.400 people dead every

week (Oxfam, 2000: 2).

The number of people actually "of concern" to the

`United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) rose up by 6 per-

cent to 20.8 million, from the 2005 total, which already saw an increase by 13

percent from 2004:

Figure 2.c. Persons of Concern to UNHCR by Region

Source: http://www.unhcr.org.

This increase reflects differing patterns of movement among the various groups

assisted by the agency, including refugees, civilians who have returned home but

See Annex 10: `Refugees and total population of concern to UNHCR 1981-2006'.

Region

Jan 2005

Jan 2006

Asia

7,230,100

8,603,600

Africa

4,855,200

5,169,300

Europe

4,426,400

3,666,700

Northern America

853,300 716,800

Latin America &

2,070,800

2,513,000

Caribbean

Oceania

82,600

82,500

TOTAL

19,518,400 20,751,900

Source: Benson, C., Clay, E. (2004) Beyond the damage: probing the economic and financial

consequences of natural disasters

, in: HPN Humanitarian Exchange 27, ODI, London, pp. 44-45.

still need help, persons displaced internally within their own countries, asylum

seekers, and stateless people.

2.1.1. Natural disasters

Natural disasters exist in great variability and can have a severe impact and inher-

ent risk on a society and its development process; as a civic leader in Bangladesh

pointed out: "We have floods most every year. This year's floods, however, have

been more damaging than most, setting the whole country back by a full decade."

Figure 2.d. Number and Cost of Weather-Related Disasters, 1980-2003

Source: The Feinstein International Famine Center, 2004: 13.

Although natural disasters like floods, droughts, volcanic eruptions, wildfires,

earthquakes and tsunamis exist in both developed and developing countries, the

poorest and most marginalized urban and rural societies will be least likely to re-

cover livelihoods and rebuild assets quickly. Several reasons have led to this weak

coping capacity, which puts large populations of the poorest inhabitants chroni-

cally at risk. Often research and investigations carried out to identify and under-

stand the risk zones in these countries are usually insufficient, leading to a frag-

mentary local knowledge on possible preventive measures, like land use planning,

appropriate building codes, safety regulations and response plans. But even if the

expertise in risk reduction exists in local institutes and universities, an appropriate

The global refugee population has dropped for the fourth consecutive year. Over the period end-

2000 to end-2004, the global refugee population has fallen by 2.6 million or 21 per cent. By the

end of 2004, the global number of refugees reached an estimated 9.6 million persons.

(http://www.unhcr.org).

Civic leader in Bangladesh paraphrased from BBC broadcast on August 2

2004 (The Feinstein

International Famine Center, 2004: 12).

financial mechanism is often not used and therefore necessary steps are not taken

(UNU-EHS, 2005: 9).

This lack of knowledge, or at least the lack of competent action, has resulted in a

visible increase of hazards, which are influenced by human activities. For in-

stance, the devastation from flooding is often compounded by preexisting envi-

ronmental conditions such as deforestation or farming on steep hillsides, which

can lead to mudslides, causing many additional deaths and injuries.

In particular,

population pressure and poverty have been identified as key aggravating factors,

leaving people in subsistence economies no other option then to exploit their envi-

ronment (UNU-EHS, 2005: 9-10).

Future predictions, driven principally by climate change, unsustainable land use,

and improved technological means of exploitation posit an increase in the fragility

of the environment and a growing number of natural disasters.

Furthermore, the

distribution of populations, primarily in Africa and parts of Southeast Asia, has its

influence on global scenarios. The UN estimates that by 2025 half of the world's

people will live in areas subject to major storms and excessive flooding, leading to

even more communities not able to cope with that fragility (The Feinstein Interna-

tional Famine Center, 2004: 11-14).

The flooding of the Yangtze River in China in 1998, which displaced over 200 million people,

has been officially blamed on deforestation in the highlands of Sichuan by the Chinese

government. The typhoon that swept across southern Africa in 2000, producing flooding that

displaced millions especially in Mozambique and Madagascar, triggered destruction that was

exacerbated by land use changes and deforestation.

Especially the global warming issue tips the delicate balance between incoming and outgoing

energy of the earth and leads to more frequent extremes, to more floods and more severe droughts

and therefore to higher death tolls (Ginkel, 2005: 2).

Population growth outside the `Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development'

(OECD) region, primarily in Africa and parts of Southeast Asia, will make up practically the entire

population growth from 1995 to 2020, during which time global population numbers will increase

from 5.6 to about 7.6 billion. This increase over 25 years corresponds to almost the entire global

population in 1950 (2.5 billion). Africa, China, and India should each have populations between

1.3 and 1.4 billion (United Nations, 2001: 12); see Annex 1: `World Population Growth by

Region'.

2.1.2. Complex emergencies

In some regions of the world, deformed and failed processes of modernization and

transformation have caused a fundamental development crisis. Ethnic struggles,

failing states, and social processes of chaos lead to warlike conflicts and political

structures have to be installed while the economy and the society are influenced

by force. The `Inter-Agency Standing Committee' (IASC)

defines a complex

emergency as "a humanitarian crisis in a country, region or society where there is

total or considerable breakdown of authority resulting from internal or external

conflict and which requires an international response that goes beyond the man-

date or capacity of any single agency and/or the ongoing United Nations country

program" (McHugh, 2006: 7). With a focus on, often only formally existing,

states of Sub-Saharan Africa, a World Bank Discussion Paper even describes the

current status of many of these countries as a "stable situation of instability"

(Michailof, 2001: 3). A situation that often leads to so-called "political economies

of threat and combat," includes a growing number of people who have an interest

in the maintenance of the conflict and a high propensity to violence. The past dec-

ade has seen a frightening persistence and intensity of conflicts and half the wars

that were thought to have ended have since resumed (World Bank, 2004: 4).

The nature of war is also changing as conflicts become increasingly inter-related

(whether at local, national, or regional levels) and the means of warfare evolves,

including the deliberate targeting of civilians and the waging of war for specifi-

cally economic motives. More and more conflicts involve the targeting or forced

displacement of civilians, as warring parties fight over territorial control as a

means to weaken enemy forces by targeting host or supportive communities or ac-

cess to natural resources. The parties involved are changing and proliferating, in-

cluding non-state actors with uncertain chains of command that make dialogue

and negotiation difficult and dangerous (OCHA, 2003: 2).

The IASC is a mechanism for inter-agency coordination of humanitarian assistance. Its forum

involves the key UN and non-UN humanitarian partners. It was established in June 1982 in

response to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/182 on the strengthening of

humanitarian assistance.

Figure 2.e. Wars and Armed Conflicts, 1950-2003

Source: The Feinstein International Famine Center, 2004: 53.

The reality of contemporary warfare is that more than 90 percent of the victims

are innocent civilians who are often targeted because of their ethnic or religious

background. As a consequence, a large number of the affected population flee

their home and their community, and this forces humanitarian organizations to op-

erate in war-torn societies where conflicting parties are often openly contemptu-

ous of fundamental humanitarian norms (United Nations, 2002: Report of the Sec-

retary-General).

2.2. Environment of humanitarian response

Complex emergencies and to a lesser degree natural disasters have a large impact

on countries and people, like hyperinflation, massive unemployment, and net de-

creases in Gross National Product, which usually lead to a macro-economic col-

lapse. People face episodic food insecurity, which frequently deteriorates into

mass starvation, followed by movements of displaced people and refugees escap-

ing conflict or searching for food. Finally, both central government authority and

at least parts of civil society deteriorate or even collapse completely (Dijkzeul

2005: 15). Jose-Miguel Albala-Bertrand, Senior Lecturer on the Political

Economy of Development at the Queen Mary University of London sees the

fundamental difference between natural and politically induced disasters in the

way institutions are affected:

"In natural disasters, there can be some significant interference with

society and therefore institutional change arising from both the impact

effects and the responses, but this is infrequent, mostly incidental and not

normally widespread or long-term. In complex emergencies, most

aspects of the impact and effects have deliberate institutional aims and

overtones. Likewise, the response to this type of calamity is also bound to

cause significant interference with society, which may be intense, long-

term and mostly deliberate"

(Albala-Bertrand, 2000: 215).

Parameters of complex emergencies are characterized by:

Source: Weller, 2005: 41; Janz, 2000: 2.

While traditional responses to natural disasters generally occur in stable working

environments and lead to a rapid return to normal conditions, experiences of hu-

manitarian crises during the 1990s have changed the humanitarian endeavor sig-

nificantly. Humanitarian actors were forced to think beyond traditional relief as-

sistance based on the delivery of food and shelter, and basic health care, and had

to recognize the root causes of vulnerability and strife. A development in hu-

manitarian action that made social, cultural, and especially political constraints

and complexities increasingly viewed as a real and vital aspect of any response. In

crisis regions, it became an important challenge to the international community to

provide aid in these settings without worsening the current conflict situation

(IRIN, 2006: 6). This, in turn, led to an increasing complexity of aid services that

put humanitarian organizations in the dilemma to act in an external environment

over which it has little control. Faced with these conflicting trends, agencies have

been "reassessing the processes that shape the nature and impact of their inter-

Refusal or inability by governments (or other effective authorities, rebel

movements etc.) to comply with their humanitarian relief responsibilities in

relation to populations under their control through their own relief action.

Refusal to grant humanitarian access to international humanitarian relief

agencies.

Multiple factions weak or dissolving government structures may require

negotiation with numerous factions making it impossible to obtain centralized

and authoritative consent for relief action.

Ongoing internal armed conflict which contributes to the humanitarian

emergency or even generates it indirectly.

Armed campaigns to obtain political benefit by inflicting horrendous human

suffering upon civilian populations as part of that armed campaign.

Ethnic and/or religious factors that led to forced displacement (ethnic cleansing)

or even genocide.

Potential to increase suffering through inappropriate or misused aid assistance.

Increased competition for limited resources.

ventions" (United Nations, 2000: Report Secretary General). Notably, the geno-

cide in Rwanda

in 1994 increased awareness among aid agencies for more

professionalism regarding evaluations, operational research, training, and im-

provement in systems. Since then, open debates and the exchange of experiences,

both within and between agencies, have become integral parts of the relief sphere

and have allowed discussion and thinking on the accountability of aid agencies

(Dufour, 2004: 124).

The humanitarian sector became actively concerned about the quality of humani-

tarian interventions, even though tensions between "conviction-driven social ac-

tion and studied professionalism with its standards, systems and accountabilities"

has energised humanitarianism since its founding years (Walker, 2004: 101). Ox-

fam realized as early as the 1980s that competition between agencies could lead to

lower standards, and a number of initiatives have been launched internally within

the sector that aimed to enhance the quality of humanitarian work and the ac-

countability of humanitarian organisations (Vaux, 2006: 246). European non-gov-

ernmental organizations (NGOs) in particular, were concerned that if they did not

take the lead in implementing their own system of standards and accountability,

they would find themselves forced to accept systems defined by their govern-

mental donors (Walker, 2004: 101). A process was initiated to target the "percep-

tions of weakness and inconsistency of the humanitarian enterprise" and to search

for an agreement on common principles based on international law and strategies

to build capacity to respond to the changing humanitarian context effectively, in-

cluding its social, economic, political, technological, environmental, and legal is-

sues (The Feinstein International Famine Center, 2004: 2).

The Rwandan Genocide was the massacre of an estimated 800,000 to 1,071,000 Tutsis and

moderate Hutus. It stands out as historically significant, not only because of the sheer number of

people murdered in such a short period of time, but also because of how inadequately the United

Nations failed to respond. (Recommended literature: Melvern, Linda (2004) Conspiracy to

Murder: The Rwanda Genocide and the International Community; Gourevitch, Philip (1998) We

Wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families.)

Details

Seiten
Erscheinungsform: Originalausgabe
Erscheinungsjahr: 2006
ISBN (eBook): 9783956361920
ISBN (Paperback): 9783836601818
Dateigröße: 1.3 MB
Sprache: Englisch
Institution / Hochschule: Ruhr-Universität Bochum – Institut für Friedenssicherungsrecht und Humanitäres Völkerrecht, IFHV
Note: 1,7
Schlagworte: entwicklungshilfe rotes kreuz völkerrecht sphere project
Produktsicherheit: Diplom.de

Autor

Thorsten Volberg (Autor:in)

The politicization of humanitarian aid and its effect on the principles of humanity, impartiality and neutrality

Zusammenfassung

Leseprobe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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Autor

Thorsten Volberg (Autor:in)