Network Paper 25: Humanitarian Action in Protracted Crises

Author(s)
Hendrickson, D.
Publication language
English
Pages
28pp
Date published
01 Apr 1998
Type
Research, reports and studies
Keywords
Conflict, violence & peace, Development & humanitarian aid
Organisations
ODI
This paper offers a synthesis of ideas debated at a one
day seminar examining international responses to
humanitarian tragedies. With many regions of the
world today caught up in a state of protracted crisis,
questions are increasingly being asked about the
international community’s commitment to respond to
acute human suffering wherever it occurs and to
address its underlying causes.
 
1. Background 5
Humanitarian values under fire 5
The new relief ‘agenda’ 6
2. Uncovering the assault on humanitarian values 9
The ‘normalisation’ of crisis 9
The political manipulation of relief aid 10
The undermining of humanitarian mandates 11
3. Origins of the assault on relief aid 13
Isolationism and the external critique of relief aid 13
Competing interests within the aid community 14
The ‘developmentalist’ orthodoxy 15
4. Protracted instability and the limits of relief aid 17
‘Emerging political complexes’ 17
Non-conventional patterns of warfare 18
‘Internalisation’ of the costs of war 19
5. Reaffirming humanitarian values 21
Keeping the critique of relief in perspective 21
Conclusion 23