Humanitarian Aid Today: "The End of Political Innocence?"

This 25th edition of Humanitarian Aid on the Move questions the very nature of humanitarian action. Rather than viewing it in relation to quality, this issue approaches humanitarian action from a much more political angle. After more than half a century of existence in its ‘modern’ form, there is currently a great deal of criticism of the humanitarian sector, including criticism of the concepts of neutrality, impartiality and independence. The question of its politicisation is increasingly being raised. Various stakeholders - particularly in the ‘South’ - now see it as a commercial sector like any other, serving national interests and a globalised ultra-liberal ideology. In the words of Haitian film-maker, Raoul Peck, (who made ‘Assistance mortelle’, a highly critical documentary on international aid to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, and who was the country’s Minister of Culture in 1996-97), could this be the «end of political innocence» for our sector?

This issue contains the following articles:

• Reflecting on how to transform aid in a changing world, by Véronique de Geoffroy and Pauline Mahé
• The relations between humanitarian aid and the political realm: past, present and future, by Pauline Mahé and Véronique de Geoffroy
• Is a radical humanitarian sector possible? by Bertrand Bréqueville
• Re-politicising humanitarian NGOs in response to the climate emergency, by Johana Bretou-Klein
• Point of view Haiti: civil society and citizen engagement in favour of an ecological and social transition and the emancipation of territories, by David Tilus
• We need a new global pact to finance international humanitarian aid, by Pierre Micheletti
• What can the humanitarian sector do to contribute to a ‘liveable earth’? by Pascal Revault
• Interview with Tin Tin Htar Myint Chairwoman of the Association Doh Atu - Ensemble pour le Myanmar
• Médecins Sans Frontières and rescue operations at sea: promoting alliances in a context of growing constraints, by Michaël Neuman
• Briançon: providing exiled people with appropriate assistance - a human, civic and political adventure , by Isabelle Lorre