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PubMed1998

Hope suspended: morality, politics and war in central Africa.

The Great Lakes tragedy from 1994-8 has demonstrated the impact of a new consensus in favour of conditional relief for the protection and assistance of disaster victims. This paper attempts to catalogue the failures of the international humanitarian community, African leaders and donor governments to act effectively in defence of humanitarian principles throughout the crisis. The paper places special emphasis on the events in eastern Zaire during 1996-7 that have, so far, received limited treatment, and, it contends, led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. The paper argues that the new orthodoxy of developmental relief, as adopted by UN and NGO humanitarian agencies in the Great Lakes, has acted more in support of the geopolitical and economic agendas of Northern governments and African leaders than in defence of disaster victims. The paper points out that the evidence of the Great Lakes tragedy suggests that the adoption of these approaches has sanctioned the abandonment of ideas about universal rights of protection for non-combatants at the moment when they are most at risk, with catastrophic results for those most vulnerable to abuse.

Africa↗
PubMed1998

Making women visible in disasters: problematising the private domain.

Gender awareness and sensitivity in disaster research and management remains uncommon and tends to focus on the developing rather than the developed world. This paper uses a feminist oral geography to present some findings about women's experiences in two floods in Scotland. It is conceptualised around public and private (masculinised and feminised) space, problematising the private domain and presenting it, in the feminist research tradition, as a legitimate object of research. It shows the ordinary and everyday to be more opaque and complex than usually imagined and makes recommendations for their recognition and incorporation into disaster management. While there is a specific focus on the private domain of the home, this is not intended to reinforce gender stereotypes but simply to recognise the reality of many of the women interviewed. It concludes that disaster research generally has yet to advance much beyond the earliest stages of feminist studies which merely sought to make women visible in society.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1998

The changing nature of conflict and famine vulnerability: the case of livestock raiding in Turkana District, Kenya.

The context of famine in Turkana has changed in recent years as the role played by livestock raiding in contributing to famine has increased. External responses to famine in Turkana have largely been drought driven, for example, food assistance and livestock restocking programmers, which have failed to meet the real needs of herders. The role of armed conflict in the form of raiding has been overlooked as a common feature of societies facing famine and food insecurity. The traditional livelihood-enhancing functions of livestock raiding are contrasted with the more predatory forms common today. The direct impact of raiding on livelihood security can be devastating, while the threat of raids and measures taken to cope with this uncertainty undermine herders' livelihood strategies. Self-imposed restrictions on mobility negatively affect the vegetation of both grazed and ungrazed pastures and restrict the available survival strategies. Predatory raiding leads to a collapse in the moral economy. Some implications of this for relief and development policy are considered, including approaches to conflict resolution.

Animal Husbandry↗
PubMed1998

Rehabilitation in complex political emergencies: is rebuilding civil society the answer?

The paper examines the challenge of rehabilitation from complex political emergencies (CPEs) and identifies a strategy that is characterized as a civil society rebuilding approach. It focuses on Somalia and a case study of CARE project that aims to build the capacity of local NGOs. The paper argues that civil society in CPEs is simultaneously being undermined and contested by warring parties and emerging after state collapse. The scope of the paper is limited to one case study and that case study examines only a single aspect of civil society: national and international NGOs The paper therefore presents tentative and preliminary results based on limited research. However, in reviewing the literature and presenting a way of approaching the subject, it aims to suggest a starting-point for developing a theoretical framework for such research. The paper finds that international agencies have tended to focus on civil society institutions simply as conduits for aid money and that this has tended to create organisations which lack downward accountability, are dependent on donors and are not addressing the wider roles for civil society envisaged in the approach. Rebuilding civil society does hold out the promise of giving non-military interests a stronger voice and starting a process of changing the aid delivery culture. Achieving these objectives, however, will be a slow and largely indigenous process and there is a need for lowered expectations about what outside assistance can achieve.

Civil Disorders↗
PubMed1998

The European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO): 1992-1999 and beyond.

The European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) was established in 1992 to co-ordinate and administer European Union (EU) humanitarian aid and by 1994 had grown to be the world's largest humanitarian aid donor. Since it was set up for an initial period of seven years, ECHO's performance and the question of its continuing existence will be reviewed next year; it seems unlikely to be abolished. In light of this, this paper starts with a description of how ECHO functions: its mandate, sources of finance and funding mechanisms. It looks then at some of the ongoing challenges that ECHO faces--its relations with Member States, its links to other Commission services and its attempts to establish a distinctive role within the humanitarian aid field. In terms of this last issue, the paper concludes that ECHO should focus instead on establishing itself as a credible donor agency.

Decision Making, Organizational↗
PubMed1998

Proliferating principles; or how to sup with the devil without getting eaten.

The international humanitarian system is seen by many to be in crisis. The reasons for this are complex but include the perception held by many that there is an increasing ambivalence on the part of powerful states to invest military, political and financial resources in upholding humanitarian principles, and a growing feeling that much humanitarian action both ignores human rights issues and can prolong conflict. As a result, much attention has focused on the notion of 'humanitarian principles' and there has been a proliferation of statements and initiatives on this topic in recent years.

Altruism↗
PubMed1998

The death of humanitarianism?: an anatomy of the attack.

Over recent years, the humanitarian community has been under increasing scrutiny and attracted harsh criticism. This mounting critique of humanitarianism has shifted from being concerned primarily with the poor functioning of the humanitarian system to one targeted on basic humanitarian values. This paper is concerned to understand the factors driving the attack on humanitarian values. It identifies four apparently disparate groups who are interested in attacking these values: the anti-imperialists, the realpolitikers, the developmentalists and the neo-peaceniks. It concludes that unless humanitarian actors are aware of these diverse threats to their values and operations, they risk being co-opted or marginalised.

Altruism↗
PubMed1998

Aid and violence, with special reference to Sierra Leone.

This paper looks at how departures from humanitarian principles can be accommodated, legitimised and obscured within the international humanitarian system. It looks particularly at the case of Sierra Leone between 1991 and 1995. It analyses how misinformation about the causes and dynamics of violence and regarding the aid system contribute to the erosion of humanitarian principles.

Altruism↗
PubMed1998

Normalising the crisis in Africa.

Developmental relief has become the central doctrine of 'good practice' in humanitarian responses to complex political emergencies. This is despite the fact that a proliferation of such emergencies reflects a failure of development for people in those countries in crisis. Drawing on case study material from Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda and Uganda, this paper challenges assumptions made about the efficacy of developmental relief models in complex emergencies. The trend towards developmental relief practices coincides with an increasing acceptance of higher levels of humanitarian distress in Africa. Myths of aid dependency and the pursuit of sustainable programming in the midst of war are linked to a global reduction in aid. The mantra of 'local solutions to local problems' locates the causes of crises firmly within those societies in crisis. It provides a premise for international disengagement, and the denial of international responsibility for the genesis and prolongation of humanitarian crises in Africa. Assigning solutions to the poor, the marginalised and victimised through enhanced 'participation' and local financing of services sustains a myth that development is occurring, when in fact levels of distress are rising.

Altruism↗
PubMed1998

Military intervention and humanitarian action: trends and issues.

An important trend in military doctrine for so-called 'peace support operations' has been to place them on a spectrum that includes coercion and enforcement. This paper focuses on British writers of doctrine as those responsible for driving the debate forward and forging a consensus among leading military powers. Their discourse is combat oriented, a fact reinforced by a trend towards strategic subcontracting to coalitions of the militarily willing and able. At the same time, there has been a move to institutionalise the involvement of military forces in relief, peace building and development activities. The overall emphasis is on stability and security to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian relief and to establish the conditions for peace-building processes. In the case of Bosnia, this involves conditionality and economic leverage. Although there is a long-established record of peace-keeping forces engaging in goodwill activities (with mixed results), the current trends contain contradictions that seem likely to contribute to the widely perceived erosion of classical humanitarian principles.

Altruism↗
PubMed1998

In defence of humanitarianism.

The humanitarian crisis which followed in the wake of the genocidal regime in Rwanda in 1994 generated massive media attention and an unprecedented outpouring of international public and private assistance. In late 1997, the Rwanda refugee population in Zaire was subjected to a disaster of similarly epic proportions as a result of military action. Yet this crisis went relatively under-reported and failed to attract substantial aid funds, particularly from official donors. This paper seeks to document and account for the demise of the humanitarian imperative. It confronts a number of the criticisms of humanitarian action, concluding that, rather than being flawed, traditional humanitarian values remain valid and should be defended wherever there are situations of conflict.

Altruism↗
PubMed1999

Landslides, risk and decision-making in Kinnaur District: bridging the gap between science and public opinion.

In November 1989 a major landslide destroyed the link road to the village of Sapni in Kinnaur District of Himachal Pradesh in the Indian Himalaya. Although aware of the risk of further landslide activity, the community has campaigned successfully for reconstruction of the road. Decisions of this kind take place at the local level, through village institutions and open debate, with good feedback between villages and district government authorities. In this way a balance is established between meeting more immediate needs (such as domestic water supply, irrigation, road access) and taking acceptable risks. Using the Sapni landslide as a case study, this paper explores the issue of 'acceptable risk', and looks at the existing strategy for risk and disaster reduction in the district.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1999

Depolarising the 'broadened' and 'back-to-basics' relief models.

Prompted by the calls in recent years to link relief practice to peace-building, development, or both, several conferences and papers have recently mounted a strong critique, seeing these 'broadenings' of relief as 'eroding' or 'corrupting' core humanitarian principles and playing into neo-isolationist agendas to slash humanitarianism. This paper argues that whereas these critiques have important goals in mind when they encourage a concentration on the basics of relief, there has been a loss of subtlety in the ensuing debate. Considering each element of the debate in turn, the paper argues that there is more common ground between 'new' and 'old', 'broadened' and 'basics' relief than at first appears. In concluding, it is argued that further research on key questions, and an openness to hear all perspectives will get us further than entrenched positions and rallying cries.

Altruism↗
PubMed1999

An ombudsman for humanitarian assistance?

The early phases of a project to design and make operational an ombudsman for humanitarian assistance (HAO) are described in this paper. Beginning with a brief historical overview of the ombudsman concept, it then outlines seven key features of a potential HAO that were identified in the initial feasibility study. The main conclusion from the feasibility study was that, in principle, it is possible to design an HAO by adapting the operational frameworks of existing ombudsman schemes so as to match the needs of the humanitarian sector. Although this seems possible in theory, there still remain some major challenges requiring practical testing in a pilot phase. The most fundamental of these is how to enable the beneficiaries of aid to make their voices heard and register their views on the management of the emergency that is affecting them. Important also, are the issues of ensuring an international jurisdiction and finding sustainable ways of financing the scheme. Finally, the paper alludes to the framework of the pilot itself and how to address the main challenges ahead.

Altruism↗
PubMed1999

US government natural disaster assistance: historical analysis and a proposal for the future.

Governments often provide grants or low-interest loans to disaster victims. Yet these programmes have proven to be quite costly. In addition, questions have been raised about associated behavioural incentives. Conceptually, government disaster insurance programmes should be more efficient, consistent and equitable than ex post facto disaster relief in the form of grants and loans. Yet the performance of government disaster insurance programmes has been mixed, at best. This article reviews the history of US federal natural disaster assistance to individuals and concludes with a recommendation for a new government role in the provision of disaster insurance.

Disaster Planning↗
PubMed1999

Race, ethnicity and disasters in the United States: a review of the literature.

In this paper we synthesise past disaster research that addresses issues of race and ethnicity in the United States. Using an eight-stage typology to organise the findings, this literature review presents the results from a wide range of studies. The synthesis shows how various racial and ethnic groups perceive natural hazard risks and respond to warnings, how groups may be differentially affected, both physically and psychologically, and how disaster effects vary by race and ethnicity during the periods of emergency response, recovery and reconstruction. We show that studies have important findings, many illustrating that racial and ethnic communities in the US are more vulnerable to natural disasters, due to factors such as language, housing patterns, building construction, community isolation and cultural insensitivities. By presenting these studies together, we are able to witness patterns of racial and ethnic inequalities that may be more difficult to see or interpret in individual studies that take place in one specific time and place. We conclude the review with policy and research recommendations.

Disaster Planning↗