How Has the Us Continued to Lead Humanitarian Assistance
Humanitarian Assistance
Vulnerability
B. Wisner , in International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, 2009
Humanitarian Assistance
Humanitarian assistance and the study groups that have been convened to understand and improve its practice focus mainly on response to emergencies and recovery from them. In many conflict and post-disaster situations large numbers of people need assistance in a short period of time. Displacement is common, and large camps for refugees or internally displaced persons in particular, call for quick, simple ways of triaging people and prioritizing needs. It is therefore not surprising that in the vocabulary of humanitarian assistance vulnerable means to subject to immediate or imminent harm. Thus children may be screened by mid-upper arm circumference as a rough guide to their nutritional status, and some sent directly to nutritional rehabilitation units. In other cases classes of people – women and girls – are correctly viewed as vulnerable to sexual predation in refugee camps, and special protections are usually provided.
The term vulnerable in these cases is utilitarian and, though useful for their purpose, does not attempt to unravel or analyze the reasons why people are displaced in the first place: the root causes of underlying patterns of vulnerability and blocked or defeated capacity.
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Vulnerability
Ben Wisner , in International Encyclopedia of Human Geography (Second Edition), 2020
Humanitarian Assistance
Humanitarian assistance focuses mainly on response to emergencies and recovery from them. In many conflict and disaster situations, large numbers of people need assistance in a short period of time. Displacement is common, and large camps for refugees or internally displaced persons in particular call for quick, simple ways of triaging people and prioritizing needs. It is therefore not surprising that in the vocabulary of humanitarian assistance the word "vulnerable" means to be subject to immediate or imminent harm. Thus, children may be screened by mid-upper arm circumference as a rough guide to their nutritional status, and some sent directly to nutritional rehabilitation units. In other cases, classes of people—women and girls—are correctly viewed as vulnerable to sexual predation in refugee camps, and special protection is usually provided. The term vulnerable in these cases is utilitarian and, although for purpose, does not attempt to unravel or analyze the reasons why people are displaced in the first place: the root causes of underlying patterns of vulnerability and blocked or defeated capacity. Nevertheless, there is some gradual convergence with the more comprehensive livelihood and household-focused approaches used by natural hazards research and development studies as shown in Box 2.
Box 2 A conceptual framework for vulnerability analysis, Syrian refugees, Jordan
Only relatively few adult Syrian refugees in Jordan have work permits (83,507 had permits out of 297,000 working-age men and women in 2017). The other adults must provide for their families with assistance from international organizations. In order, better to target the UNHCR's limited cash assistance, a framework was developed to assess vulnerability. Once the framework was developed, field observations provided concrete and specific questions that would elicit from potential beneficiaries data that could be scored. A series of score cards was produced. This approach still bears the hallmarks of the utilitarian triage approach characteristic of the treatment of vulnerability in humanitarian practice, although it takes into account a broader array of factors and is scale/geographic sensitive, household-focused and allows for dynamic changes in a household's situation.
The approach takes into account location of the household and the proximity of water, sanitation, health care, and education services, hence issues of physical access or availability. The analysis also takes into account social access to services (as opposed simply to their proximity). This is assessed by indices of social cohesion, local governance, safety, and security. Finally, for specific individuals in the household, specific needs are scored according to the categories set out by UNHCR in their Emergency Manual. The "specific needs codes" suggested by UNHCR address include the following:
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girls and boys at risk, including unaccompanied and separated children
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persons with serious health conditions
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persons with special legal or physical protection needs
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single women
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women-headed households
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older persons
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persons with disabilities
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persons with culturally deviant sexual orientation or gender identity
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Participants – Non-Governmental Organizations, Including the Private Sector and Academia
Damon P. Coppola , in Introduction to International Disaster Management (Third Edition), 2015
Aid Worker Safety and Security
Humanitarian aid workers, especially those responding to complex humanitarian emergencies and other incidents involving conflict or a breakdown in rule of law, place themselves at increased risk to carry out their work. Attacks on aid workers, both those responding from overseas and those who are local to the country where they are working, have increased over time. In 2013, the number of aid workers killed, injured, or kidnapped reached an all-time high of 442. The increasing nature of these incidents is due to both the high visibility such events garner and the desire on the part of the attackers to negatively impact the assistance the aid workers are providing to one or more populations.
Attacks on aid workers have been found to be unconnected to prevailing rates of violence in a country. Rather, the rate of attacks is more closely associated with the presence of a weak government, a breakdown in rule of law, and most significantly, the existence of armed conflict. Attacks most commonly involve kidnapping the workers or attempting to injure or kill them using firearms, physical assault, or explosives. The attacks have been against individuals, the structures where they work and live, and during their travel from place to place. Research detailing all aid worker fatalities in 2011 showed that only a small percentage are the result of a worker becoming caught in crossfire (13 percent) or getting caught up in civil disorder (2 percent). The remainder of deaths were the result of some intentional targeting of the worker, including ambushes (42 percent), individual attacks (28 percent), and raids (15 percent) (Humanitarian Outcomes 2013).
Rates of kidnappings of aid workers have increased at a rate faster than both the total number of attacks against aid workers and the number of attacks aimed at injuring or killing the workers. In fact, between 2009 and 2012, the rate of kidnappings rose by more than 28 percent, and has quadrupled since 2002 (Humanitarian Outcomes 2014). It is now the most common form of attack aid workers face. Though it is difficult to obtain information on whether ransom payments were made to secure the release of kidnapped aid workers because of the sensitivity of the subject (and the increased danger these statistics could create for aid workers moving forward), it is presumed that the vast majority of kidnappings are conducted to achieve some monetary or political gain. Only 14 percent of kidnapped victims, in fact, were killed in the course of their kidnapping.
Many organizations have taken greater measures to protect their workers from directed violence. Claiming independence from the government is no longer enough to prevent the targeting of staff. Kidnap and ransom insurance is becoming more common, as are policies on staff security, travel, movement, and work, and stronger partnerships with national governments and private companies that track and report on security. Staff are also undergoing training in how to avoid dangerous situations and how to respond if caught in an attack. The UN Department of Safety and Security, for instance, mandates all staff, including consultants, complete online field safety and security courses prior to deployment. Save the Children is an example of an NGO that maintains the same standards, requiring all employees to undergo safety and security training.
Figures 9.4 to 9.9 illustrate how often attacks against aid workers are occurring, what the outcomes of those attacks are, where those attacks are occurring, and several other indicators. Exhibit 9.3 provides a detailed chronology of the attacks against aid workers that occurred in 2008.
Figure 9.4. Attacks against aid workers worldwide, from 1997 to 2013
Source: Humanitarian Outcomes, 2014.Aid Worker Security Database. https://aidworkersecurity.org 
Figure 9.5. Top ten countries ranked by number of attacks involving aid workers, from 1997 to 2013
Source: Humanitarian Outcomes, 2014. Aid Worker Security Database. https://aidworkersecurity.org 
Figure 9.6. Number of aid workers killed, kidnapped, or injured by year, from 1997 to 2013
Source: Humanitarian Outcomes, 2014. Aid Worker Security Database. https://aidworkersecurity.org 
Figure 9.7. Attacks against aid workers by type, from 1997 to 2013
Source: Humanitarian Outcomes, 2014. Aid Worker Security Database. https://aidworkersecurity.org 
Figure 9.8. Aid worker attacks by location of attack, from 1997 to 2013
Source: Humanitarian Outcomes, 2014. Aid Worker Security Database. https://aidworkersecurity.org 
Figure 9.9. Rate of attacks against aid workers by country (heat map), from 1997 to 2013
Source: Humanitarian Outcomes, 2014. Aid Worker Security Database. http://aidworkersecurity.org Exhibit 9.3 Chronology of Humanitarian Aid Workers Killed in 2008
| Date | Country | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 1/7/2008 | Somalia | Isse Abdulkadir Haji, an employee of the Zam Zam Foundation, was shot dead in Yaaqshiid district of Mogadishu by unknown gunmen. |
| 1/28/2008 | Somalia | Damien Lehalle, Victor Okumu, and Billan, all from MSF Netherlands, were killed after their car was hit by an IED in Kismayo. |
| 2/13/2008 | Somalia | A WFP contract convoy leader was shot dead at an illegal checkpoint near Bu aale. |
| 2/25/2008 | Pakistan | Gunmen opened fire on the Plan International office in Mansehra, killing four, including three Pakistani staff members. Another two were badly hurt. |
| 2/28/2008 | Afghanistan | Aid workers Cyd Mizell and Muhammad Hadi were killed in Afghanistan. The pair had been kidnapped by armed men in Kandahar while they traveled to work in the morning. |
| 3/3/2008 | Nepal | Six foreigners and four Nepalese were among seven UN staff and three crew members who died when a UN helicopter crashed in Ramechhap district, eastern Nepal. |
| 3/12/2008 | Somalia | An MSF Spain employee died after armed men opened fire on an MSF vehicle and several other nearby vehicles. The likely target of the attack was the TGF District Commissioner of Balcad. |
| 3/15/2008 | Pakistan | A Turkish aid worker involved in earthquake relief was killed in a bomb blast at a popular Italian restaurant in Islamabad. |
| 3/24/2008 | Sudan | A driver with WFP was killed while transporting food. |
| 4/4/2008 | Chad | Ramadan Djom, a driver of Save the Children UK, was killed during a carjacking. |
| 4/7/2008 | Sudan | Hamid Dafaalla, 47, the driver of a WFP-contracted truck, and his assistant were shot and killed by unknown assailants after delivering humanitarian food supplies. |
| 4/14/2008 | Somalia | Four teachers from the Hiran Community Education Project school in Beletweyne were killed during an al-Shabab attack on the town. Daud Hassan Ali and Rehana Ahmed were British nationals, while Gilford Koech and Andrew Kibet were Kenyan. |
| 4/21/2008 | Sudan | Mohammed Makki El Rasheed, 58, a worker for a WFP-contracted trucking firm, was shot and killed on a main transport route between North and South Darfur. |
| 4/30/2008 | Sudan | Three armed men gained entry into the Save the Children's truck compound in Geneina. The gunmen shot Abdalla Hamid multiple times before they fled the compound in a Save the Children vehicle. |
| 5/1/2008 | Chad | Pascal Marlinge, the country director for Save the Children, was shot by bandits after they stopped his three-vehicle convoy. |
| 5/7/2008 | Kenya | Gunmen shot dead 37-year-old Zimbabwean Silence Chirara outside a UN compound in Lokichoggio, north of Nairobi, near the border with southern Sudan. He was ambushed while driving a clearly marked UN vehicle. |
| 5/7/2008 | Somalia | A WFP truck driver was shot by militiamen who stopped a convoy of 12 WFP-contracted trucks at an illegal checkpoint 30 km north of Galkayo. |
| 5/8/2008 | West Bank/Gaza | Wafa Shaker El-Daghma, a school teacher serving with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), was killed at her home in Gaza in an operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces. |
| 5/14/2008 | Iraq | A demining NGO employee was killed in a demining accident. |
| 5/17/2008 | Somalia | The director of the Somali aid organization Horn Relief was killed by masked gunmen as he arrived at his house in Kismayo. |
| 6/10/2008 | Pakistan | Three workers with the Pakistani humanitarian organization RISE were killed and two sustained injuries when their vehicle plunged into a ravine while negotiating a turn near Hungrai. The three employees were identified as driver Mohammad Pervaiz, Zaiba Shehnaz, and Babar Lateef. |
| 6/11/2008 | Somalia | Mohammed Abdulle Mahdi, the head of the Woman and Child Care Association (WOCCA) in Beletweyne, was killed by unidentified gunmen in Somalia. The gunmen opened fire on Mahdi's car as he was traveling through the Suqbad neighborhood of Mogadishu. Mahdi's driver was also killed in the incident. |
| 6/12/2008 | Somalia | A WFP-contracted driver was killed while transporting food aid to Bay and Bakool. |
| 6/19/2008 | Afghanistan | Unidentified armed men stormed a medical clinic run by Merlin in Kunduz. Dr. Sayid Masoom, the clinic head, and Mohammad Ewazewaz, the unarmed duty guard for the clinic, were fatally shot in the attack. |
| 6/22/2008 | Somalia | Mohamed Hassan Kulmiye, a peace activist with the Center for Research and Development, was shot in the head several times by unidentified gunmen. |
| 6/27/2008 | Sudan | Muzamil Ramadan Sida, 28, the Ugandan driver of a WFP-contracted truck, was shot and killed by unidentified assailants in an ambush on the Juba-Yei road in southern Sudan. |
| 6/30/2008 | Tanzania | Darren Stratti, an Australian aid worker helping build a village for orphans in northern Tanzania, was shot by burglars in a robbery attempt. He later succumbed to his wounds. Mr. Stratti worked for foodwatershelter, a small NGO set up to work in developing countries, building the villages that provide education, health, and social facilities for women, children, and orphans. |
| 7/3/2008 | Afghanistan | Three Afghan aid workers employed by an international NGO were reportedly killed in a Coalition Force (CF) air strike in Nuristan. Another staff member was wounded in the incident. |
| 7/6/2008 | Somalia | Osman Ali Ahmed, 48, head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office in Mogadishu, was assassinated by gunmen as he returned home from evening prayers. The gunmen shot him six times at close range. His younger brother was also fatally wounded in the incident. |
| 7/7/2008 | Somalia | In southern Somalia, gunmen shot and killed a WFP-contracted driver. Ahmed Saali was killed in fighting between convoy escorts and militiamen at a checkpoint in the Lower Shabelle region on Monday. |
| 7/9/2008 | Somalia | Ali Jama Bihi, a local peace activist, was killed by two gunmen as he left the local Mosque after morning prayers. |
| 7/11/2008 | Somalia | Gunmen shot and killed Mohamed Muhamoud Qeyre, the deputy head of Mogadishu-based, German-funded Daryeel Bulsho Guud (DBG). DBG reported that he had been gunned down as he was performing ablutions at a Mosque at Elasha Biyaha, Mogadishu. |
| 7/13/2008 | Somalia | A WFP contractor was killed by local authorities at a food warehouse in Buale after a confrontation in which they demanded a USD 30.00 tax per aid vehicle. |
| 7/14/2008 | Somalia | Safhan Moalim Muktar, the director of the South Somalia Youth Organization, was killed and his car was stolen. |
| 8/6/2008 | Somalia | Abdikadir Yusuf Kariye, head of an orphanage in Lafole near Mogadishu, was shot dead by unidentified attackers. Kariye had received death threats after organizing demonstrations to protest the killing of aid workers in Somalia. |
| 8/12/2008 | Somalia | Adan Quresh, a staff member of World Vision International, was killed in the crossfire as fighting broke out between armed groups in Wajid, southern Somalia. |
| 8/13/2008 | Afghanistan | Four International Rescue Committee aid workers were killed in an ambush in Logar Province in Afghanistan. They include three international staff members, all women—a British-Canadian, a Canadian, a Trinidadian-American—and an Afghan driver. Another Afghan driver was critically wounded. They were traveling to Kabul in a clearly marked International Rescue Committee vehicle when they came under fire. The staff members were identified as: Mohammad Aimal, 25, of Kabul; Nicole Dial, 30, a dual citizen of Trinidad and the United States; Jacqueline (Jackie) Kirk, Ph.D., 40, of Outrement, Quebec, a dual citizen of Canada and the United Kingdom; and Shirley Case, 30, of Williams Lake, British Columbia. |
| 8/15/2008 | Somalia | Abdulkadir Diad Mohamed, a Somali who joined WFP in June as an administration and finance assistant, was abducted and then shot dead after he tried to escape. His driver, who was not a WFP employee, was also killed. |
| 8/27/2008 | Afghanistan | Authorities identified a body as Kazuya Ito, a Japanese engineer who was seized by gunmen a day earlier in Nangarhar province. Kazuya Ito worked for Peshawar-kai. |
| 9/1/2008 | Congo, Dem. Rep. | Seven UN staff are among the 17 killed when an AirServ plane carrying humanitarian supplies crashes into a mountain 15 km northeast of Bukavu airport. The UN identified the victims as a Canadian member of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), an Indian who worked for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid, two members of Médecins sans Frontiéres, one from France and one from the Republic of Congo. The other thirteen were citizens of the DRC. Two were employees of AirServ and were the crew. Four were with the UNDP and another four were civil servants, while the last three worked for Handicap International. |
| 9/7/2008 | Sudan | There was a fatal road traffic accident on the Juba Torit road around Liria (about 60 km southeast of Juba). One UNHCR national staff and one international NGO national staff were killed in the accident. In addition, one international staff member was injured. |
| 9/14/2008 | Afghanistan | Two Afghan doctors working for WHO and traveling in a clearly marked UN vehicle were targeted by a suicide bomber. Both doctors were killed. |
| 9/23/2008 | Somalia | Muslim extremists from the al Shabab group fighting the transitional government on September 23 sliced the head off of Mansuur Mohammed, 25, a World Food Programme (WFP) worker, before horrified onlookers from the Manyafulka village, 10 km (6 miles) from Baidoa. |
| 10/6/2008 | Somalia | A RCIED detonated in close proximity to a UN vehicle carrying UN staff members from Marka airstrip to town. A driver was killed and an international staff member wounded. |
| 10/17/2008 | Somalia | Gunmen killed WFP staffer Abdinasir Adan Muse, who was murdered as he left a local mosque after evening prayers. The incident occurred in Merka, about 80 km southwest of Mogadishu. |
| 10/19/2008 | Somalia | Unidentified gunmen killed Muktar Mohammed Hassan, a local man working for UNICEF, in the southern Hudur town. |
| 10/20/2008 | Afghanistan | Gayle Williams, a British aid worker with SERVE, was killed by two Taliban gunmen while she walked to work in Kabul. The Taliban falsely accused Gayle of spreading Christian propaganda. |
| 10/25/2008 | Somalia | Gunman shot dead Duniya Sheik Dauda, an employee of Iida, as she returned from work at the organization in the central Somali town of Gurilel. Iida campaigns for women's rights and against female genital mutilation. |
| 10/29/2008 | Somalia | Mohammed Geele, a local security adviser, and Hashi Sayid, a driver for the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), were killed in a suicide car bombing against the UNDP compound in Hargeisa, northern Somalia. Six staff members were also injured, two of them seriously. |
| 11/8/2008 | Somalia | Gunmen shot dead a Somali aid worker in southern Somalia. Mohamud Mohamed Osman Sakow of Mercy Corps was assassinated while walking to his house in Jamame, north of Kismayu. |
| 11/12/2008 | Pakistan | Stephen Vance, an aid worker in a USAID-funded project, was murdered by gunmen suspected of being associated with the Pakistani Taliban. Stephen and his driver were shot while leaving his home in the upscale University town area of Peshawar. |
| 11/21/2008 | Congo, Dem. Rep. | Munyiragi Didace Namujimbo, a national staff member in the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) working as a journalist with Radio Okapi, was shot and killed in Bukavu. |
| 11/26/2008 | Afghanistan | Belqis Mazloomyar—a UNHCR contract worker, women's rights activist, and community worker—was killed by unknown gunmen in Surkh Rod district of Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan. She was shot during a local shura meeting at Lower Sheikh Mesri, a temporary settlement for returnees. The identity of the perpetrators and their motives remain unclear. |
| 11/28/2008 | Sri Lanka | An aid worker with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) was killed by unidentified gunmen in Batticaloa. A. Vigneswaran was shot and killed after the gunmen forced him from his house. |
| 11/30/2008 | Afghanistan | Mohamad Shar was killed when a suicide bomber attacked a passing vehicle. Shar had been working for Christian Children's Fund (CCF) for 18 months. |
| 12/11/2008 | Congo, Dem. Rep. | Seguin Tshisekedi was shot dead by unknown assailants a short distance from his home in the city center of Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the IRC, Mr. Tshisekedi had worked for IRC as a data entry assistant since 2003. |
| 12/13/2008 | Somalia | A Somali security guard working for ICRC was killed in a shooting incident in Mogadishu. An ICRC staff member and a driver were apparently temporarily detained by TFG police but were later released. |
| 12/15/2008 | Congo, Dem. Rep. | Gunmen shot and killed a Congolese aid worker from an Italian aid group in eastern Congo. Boduin Ntamenya was killed and his driver, Ciza Deo Gratias, was seriously wounded when their vehicle was ambushed in the town of Burayi 5 km south of Rutshuru. Both men worked for the Voluntary Association for International Service (AVSI), an Italian NGO operating in eastern Congo. |
| 12/17/2008 | Myanmar | A Thai aid worker with the Pattanarak Foundation was killed in a car accident in Burma. Mong Aye, 30, died of head injuries after the truck he was riding in had an accident about 12 km west of Three Pagodas town. Four other staff members from the Pattanarak Foundation were unharmed. |
| 12/23/2008 | Sri Lanka | Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a driver with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Sivasundaralingam Gangatharan, 32, was killed near the ICRC office after stepping down from the bus he was taking to work. |
| 12/30/2008 | West Bank/Gaza | Two UNRWA staff members died as a result of the conflict in Gaza. |
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Participants – Governmental Disaster Management Agencies
Damon P. Coppola , in Introduction to International Disaster Management (Third Edition), 2015
Assignment of Liability, and the Risk of Accident-Related Implications
Participation in humanitarian assistance is inherently risky work. Both the responders themselves and the people they are trying to help may be injured or even killed as a result of their actions and efforts. Additionally, through the responders' work, either intentionally or accidentally, property damage can and does occur. Response work is also a skilled profession, and responders represent themselves according to certain standards of training and ability through which a recipient government is able decide whether or not to allow or deny access to the affected population. For both the donor and the recipient governments, there are many questions of where liability for accidents does or should lie, but legal frameworks and statutory authorities typically provide necessary protections only to citizens of the affected nation and domestically based organizations. So great are these concerns that in the absence of an acceptable agreement there may be perfectly usable resources that sit idle despite their obvious need.
There also exists liability in connection with disaster assistance related to political capital. If a donor responding government agency or official is involved in an accident that occurs in the course of response, and questions of the nature of the accident (justified or otherwise) significantly raise the media and public profile of the incident, the result can greatly exceed any financial costs incurred. While such an incident is unlikely, the political implications of accidents and even actions can change the very nature of the bilateral relationship in the future, and under the right circumstances could even impact the national security of one or both of the countries impacted. For instance, several search-and-rescue teams involved in the search for survivors at the famed Hotel Montana, which collapsed during the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, were accused of very poor performance, presumably because they were focusing their search efforts only on those parts of the hotel where it was believed their own citizens were located. And long after it was felt there was no chance of additional survivors being found buried at the hotel, several teams remained in an apparent attempt to salvage cadavers of their country's citizens while Haitians remained buried alive elsewhere in the city. While no legal ramifications resulted from these accusations, the reputations of these search teams, and the intentions of the donor countries, were called into question (Associated Press 2010). The cholera outbreak that continues in Haiti (as a result of the participation of several UN peacekeepers from Nepal, who are alleged to have brought the disease to the country) is the most stark example of how responder liability can be called into question.
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Relief Operations
P. O'Keefe , J. Rose , in International Encyclopedia of Public Health, 2008
Background
Relief operations refer to the humanitarian aid or assistance given to people in distress by individuals, organizations, or governments with the core purpose of preventing and alleviating human suffering.
The principles of humanitarian intervention are impartiality, neutrality, and independence. Impartiality means no discrimination on the basis of nationality, race, religious beliefs, class, gender, or political opinions: humanitarian interventions are guided by needs. Neutrality demands that humanitarian agencies do not take sides in either hostilities or ideological controversy. Independence requires that humanitarian agencies retain their autonomy of action. These principles, originally drawn up for war and consolidated in humanitarian law expressed in the Geneva Convention of 1949, underlie response to conflict-related and natural disasters.
Since the early 1990s, there has been both an increase in the number of disasters and a change in the nature of emergencies, thus leading to a substantial increase in relief operations. Natural disasters have grown in number largely due to increased climate variability. Complex emergencies (situations of armed conflict) have increased, particularly since the end of the Cold War, and are now characterized by high levels of civilian casualties, deliberate destruction of livelihoods and welfare systems, collapse of the rule of law, and large numbers of displaced people. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), there were 8.4 million refugees and 23.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) as of December 2005.
Emergencies have changed in nature from predominantly natural disasters, dominated by flood and drought, to complex emergencies and technological disasters. The 'War on Terror' following events on 11 September 2001 and the subsequent interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq have created new challenges for the implementation of relief operations.
The increasing frequency and changing face of emergencies have caused humanitarian expenditures to soar. Total humanitarian assistance reached an all-time high in 2005 at around US$18 billion – the Asian tsunami alone mobilized an unprecedented response. In real terms, humanitarian aid from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members rose by 32% in 2005. (DAC is a forum of major bilateral donors with 23 members, including the Commission of the European Communities and the United States.) These figures do not account for charitable donations from individuals or groups, such as churches, and they do not capture non-Western assistance such as that provided by Islamic entities.
The international humanitarian system consists, principally, of four sets of actors: donor governments, including the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO), the United Nations (UN), the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs). Local NGOs and beneficiaries have little voice in the system.
A broad division of labor exists within the United Nations system. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) is in charge of the policy and planning framework; World Food Program (WFP) is responsible for emergency food delivery; the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is in charge of emergency shelter; United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) is responsible for nutrition and water and sanitation; and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) is responsible for emergency agriculture, which if successful should mark the end of the emergency and the diminution of the role of the WFP.
Ironically, the health sector is the only sector not delivered directly by the UN. That rests largely with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), who arguably are the only two absolute humanitarian organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) is generally involved with programming and policy, less involved with the management of medical delivery, and not at all involved in medical delivery. Despite this there are three distinct areas in which the UN delivers what can broadly be described as medical interventions. These are food security (including nutrition), shelter, and water and sanitation.
On-the-ground management of relief remains a contentious subject and is closely tied to the issue of coordination. The United Nations system, through OCHA, is usually responsible for the coordination of ground-level management, increasingly through the 'Cluster Approach' in which agencies are identified to lead coordination in a specific sector. In places where the United Nations is not acceptable, the ICRC plays the critical coordination role. Most disaster appeals are underfunded so the humanitarian system usually has insufficient resources to deliver the appropriate humanitarian response. As a result, most NGOs agree to be coordinated through the UN system. When disaster appeals are met or exceeded, as in the Asian Tsunami, the different United Nations agencies and international NGOs tend to work more independently. Coherent and effective on-the-ground management relies ultimately on the honest sharing of information about beneficiary need and coverage. FAO has provided a model of good practice for this by chairing information sharing through its food security assessment unit (FSAU). In general, however, information sharing for on-the-ground management, and therefore effective coordination, remains the weakest link in humanitarian delivery.
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Mass Trauma: Psychopathological Effects across the Life Span
Frank Neuner , ... Verena Ertl , in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition), 2015
Interventions
Mass trauma events call for humanitarian assistance on different levels. The survivors of disasters and wars often present with the most urgent needs such as food, clean water, and medical assistance. On the background of such salient shortages, mental health care is usually not perceived as a priority. However, different researchers have pointed to the importance of preventing and curing long-term mental health impairment that may interfere with functioning of individuals and communities. A particular challenge is that mass trauma mainly affects low- and middle-income countries with insufficient mental health service and limited availability of specialized professionals. Nevertheless, some first attempts have been made to develop and test prevention and intervention programs and principles, and some of these programs have shown promising effects in evaluation research (see below).
Mass trauma mental health programs vary with regard to their level of specialization (from universal to highly specialized services), the targeted ecological context (individual, family, school, community), and the timing in relation to the occurring mass trauma (immediate, intermediate, or long term). Universal interventions usually focus on more distal levels like schools and communities, and are often implemented early after incidents of mass trauma with the goal of preventing chronic pathological reactions. On the other hand, more specialized therapeutic interventions are located at more proximal levels, i.e., at the individual and family level. They target specific disorders rather than general distress and deal with identified cases that present with mental health disorders.
Different expert groups (e.g., Hobfoll et al., 2007) have formulated general and universal principles for the evidence-informed mental health response to mass trauma. The authors emphasize the promotion of conditions that are associated with recovery from trauma such as a sense of safety, calming, a sense of self and community efficacy, connectedness, and hope (Hobfoll et al., 2007). The idea is to create an environment that increases resilience and reduces risk factors across specific and unspecific interventions.
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International Disaster Management
George D. Haddow , ... Damon P. Coppola , in Introduction to Emergency Management (Seventh Edition), 2020
Preparing and Responding to Disasters and Crises
Following a disaster or in a crisis situation, humanitarian assistance and protection must be appropriate to the requirements that have been identified through timely and specific assessments. Any humanitarian assistance must be sensitive to gender, age, and other socioeconomic considerations, as well as being proportionate to the magnitude of the situation. Assistance must be provided first to the most vulnerable people and delivered in a way that respects their dignity. Being an integral part of communities allows us a continuous understanding of their needs, vulnerabilities, and capacities. Systematic disaster and crisis management starts with preparedness for early action by trained and organized volunteers. It also includes maintaining and prepositioning contingency stocks of essential supplies, and optimizing logistics and communications. Reliable early warning systems are instrumental in saving the maximum number of lives, and protecting assets and livelihoods. Additionally, our disaster and crisis response includes providing essential health care, food and nutrition, and water and sanitation. We help restore family links where these have been disrupted. We also lead the coordination of emergency shelter provision, as part of the agreed division of labor within the humanitarian assistance system. Appropriate laws are crucial to ensure the speed and effectiveness of humanitarian assistance. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of national legal preparedness and international legal cooperation through the development and promotion of disaster laws, principles, and rules. These seek to reduce operational barriers and strengthen the role of communities to ensure that relief and recovery measures are carried out efficiently in a manner respectful of the dignity and rights of affected people. We also promote predisaster cooperation arrangements that facilitate and regulate international assistance to enhance preparedness measures and increase the appropriateness and predictability of provision.
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Shelter and Settlement for Forcibly Displaced People
R. Zetter , in International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home, 2012
Multi-Sectoral and Multi-Scale Provision
The first challenge is that, within the arena of humanitarian action, shelter provision is unique for its multi-sectoral and multi-scale challenges compared with, for example, emergency food provision, water supply, and sanitation. As in normal conditions, refugee shelter assumes a prominent role far beyond the immediate physical needs of the 'built' environment, serving a rich nexus of material, social, economic, and psychological needs and interests. It is a vital base for displaced people to recommence their livelihoods. Yet, much evidence confirms that the humanitarian response is rarely capable of embracing this rich nexus of needs. Focused on shelter production as a material and physical commodity, current policy and practice neglect the important cultural and social characteristics which are embedded in housing design, settlement layout, and self-help housing development processes. Moreover, although the gendered boundaries of housing in most societies constitute an environment in which women lay claim to the house as their domain, the predominance of masculinised value systems, concepts, and professional personnel in refugee housing exacerbates the subordination of women found in much humanitarian intervention. As a result, inappropriate responses frequently increase or reproduce the vulnerabilities of the displaced populations, and often constitute unsustainable resettlement strategies.
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Participants – Multilateral Organizations and International Financial Institutions
Damon P. Coppola , in Introduction to International Disaster Management (Third Edition), 2015
Yemen
In Yemen, more than half the population needs some form of humanitarian aid. The collapse of basic services in 2011–12, endemic food insecurity, destroyed or damaged livelihoods and under-development, along with displacement resulting from conflict, have combined to plunge the country into a humanitarian emergency which may persist into 2015. Inflows of refugees and migrants from the Horn of Africa and returning Yemeni migrants count among the vulnerable. Ten and a half million people are food-insecure or severely food-insecure, and 1,080,000 children under five suffer from acute or severe malnutrition. About half the population has no access to adequate water sources or sanitation facilities, and a further 8.6 million have insufficient access to health services. An estimated 250,000 returnees need assistance to rebuild their lives, while 240,000 refugees, mostly from Somalia, and tens of thousands of mainly Ethiopian migrants are stranded in the country. It is expected that the number of returning Yemeni migrants, estimated to be 360,000 people, will double in 2014. The weakness of rule-of-law institutions has been identified as a serious protection risk. The 2014–2015 humanitarian strategy prioritises life-saving interventions for the most vulnerable groups in Yemen, with a second strand of interventions designed to promote transition towards recovery.
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Requirements: $591 million
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Funding received against requirements: 51%
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People in need: 14.7 million
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People to receive help: 7.6 million
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Water, Health and Social Inequality
Linda M. Whiteford , Cecilia Vindrola-Padros , in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Second Edition), 2015
Dealing with the Epidemic
The earthquake that struck the country led to an unprecedented immersion of foreign humanitarian assistance. Foreign assistance took different forms, from the influx of monetary donations to the settlement of medical and assistance personnel in IDPs and Cholera Treatment Centers (CTCs) all over the country. It is estimated that the international community pledged to provide $10 billion in aid to Haiti, but only 2% of this money had been spent by 2010 ( Kaussen, 2011: p. 6). Even though portions of this fund were eventually made available to the country's officials, cases of government corruption were documented, the money was not used effectively, and there was no guarantee that the funds would be used to deal with Haiti's most pressing problems (Farmer, 2011: p. 210).
The coordination of the large number of local and international NGOs working in Haiti after the earthquake and during the cholera epidemic was not without complications. The lack of public oversight of NGOs led to the creation of gaps in services; the distribution of aid was unequal in that a large portion of the aid was focused on the areas that were most affected by the earthquake and not enough attention was paid to the rural areas where the epidemic ultimately emerged; and the overreliance on NGOs for the management of basic services demeaned the role of governmental institutions (Ivers et al., 2010: p. 2048; Schuller, 2010).
By the end of 2011, most public health reports indicated that the cholera epidemic in Haiti had moved toward containment as fewer cases were being reported and treatment was provided to those already suffering from the disease. Several publications, however, cautioned that the improvement of the cholera scenario could be the product of the end of the rainy season in the region and they predicted the disease would probably reemerge once the rain returned (MSF, 2012). That prognosis was also supported by reports that proclaimed that water and sanitation infrastructure had not undergone significant transformations and the living conditions in settlement camps had actually deteriorated (Webster, 2011).
During the first half of 2012, many of these predictions became realities. The rainy season began and the disease continued to spread. Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) reported in less than 1 month into the rainy season, that the cases of cholera patients in their CTCs nearly tripled. From 16 to 23 April 2012, 134 cholera patients were admitted into MSF's center in Martissant and another 400 patients were admitted to the other MSF centers in Port-au-Prince and Leogane. This organization even had to reopen a CTC in Carrefour to prevent the overburdening of other operating centers in nearby cities (MSF, 2012).
The cholera epidemic in Haiti points to the fact that in areas of the world where water, sanitation, and access to health care cannot be guaranteed for society as a whole, the spread of infectious diseases (like cholera but not limited to it) will remain a latent possibility. The fragile condition of Haitian public services posed a threat to people's lives even before the earthquake struck the country. A natural disaster of this magnitude certainly complicated matters, but Haiti's cholera epidemic was mainly produced by deeper political, economic, and social factors that led to its long-term economic and material impoverishment, dependence on international humanitarian assistance, and lack of coordination of public services.
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