BANGOR FOREIGN POLICY FORUM

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BANGOR FOREIGN POLICY FORUM
Armed Conflicts Global Humanitarian
Challenges National Intl Responses

• Monica Onyango, RN, PhD (c)
• Lecturer
• Department of International Health
• Boston University School of Public Health
• monyango_at_bu.edu
• October 16, 2007

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PLAN

• Context
• Response Role of NGOs
• Issues Challenges of humanitarian response
• discussion

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Disasters
Man-made
Natural
Hydro- meteorological
Geophysical
Biological
WMD
Techno- logical
Complex Emergencies
Epidemics Insect infest.
Earthquakes Tsunamis Volcanoes
Floods Wave surges Storms Droughts Extreme
temps Fires Landslides avalanches

• Wars
• Civil strife
• Pop.
• Displace-
• ments

Biological Chemical Nuclear terrorism

• Industrial
• Accidents
• Transport
• Accidents

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Complex Emergencies

• Post cold war era final decade of 20th C
• High visibility to humanitarian assistance
• The nature of war changed considerably
• More wars within states than between (intra vs.
  inter state)
• Over 90 of casualties are civilians

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Characteristics

• Poorly disciplined soldiers (militias)
• Human rights abuses
• High levels of violence -murder, mutilation ...
• Lack of protection for civilians, refugees and
  aid workers

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CHARACTERISTICS
Women and children frequently victims of
intimidation - abduction, rape, sex slaves
Sierra Leone (UNICEF/HQ98-0565/Giacomo Pirozzi)
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CHARACTERISTICS

• Child Soldiers
• gt300,000
• Proliferation of
• small arms

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Consequences

• Disruption of infrastructure e.g. public health,
  roads, essential services etc
• Injuries
• Increased morbidity and mortality
• Insecurity for civilians
• Destruction of social networks

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Lack of food
Malnutrition
A feeding center in South Sudan
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POPULATION DISPLACEMENTS

• Refugees
• Internally displaced
• populations (IDPs)

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Vulnerable Populations

• Unaccompanied children
• Elderly
• Women girls (e.g. heads of households)
• Infants, children, adolescents
• Pregnant and lactating mothers
• Disabled
• Ethnic minority groups

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Of the displaced populations in the world
today, 80 are women and children
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• Unaccompanied children
• Safety and security
• recruitment
• sexual abuse

The elderly
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COMPLEX HUMANITARIAN EMERGENCIES (CHEs)

• A term coined in 1990s to describe the changed
  nature of emergencies

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HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

• Immediate
• Long-term response

• Phases of an
• emergency
• Emergency
• Post emergency
• Post conflict rehabilitation recovery

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HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

• MAIN PLAYERS
• United Nations (UN) agencies
• Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
• Red Cross movement
• Governmental organizations
• DONORS
• OTHERS
• Academic and research institutions
• News media
• Military
• Private contractors

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Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO)

• The past gt 30 years have seen an increase of
  NGOs on the international stage
• Accepted players with a major role in transfer of
  resources from rich to poor countries
• Some NGOs have specialized areas, i.e
  agriculture, food, health, water and sanitation
  etc

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Role of NGOs in Humanitarian Assistance

• Delivery of relief and development aid
• Direct conflict resolution
• Assistance in monitoring elections
• Advocacy of human rights justice
• Lobbying governments for peace security
• ..ETC
• (Stephenson, 2005)

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PRINCIPLES GUIDING EMERGENCY HUMANITARIAN ACTION

• Humanity Saving lives alleviating suffering
  wherever it is found
• Impartiality implementation of actions solely on
  the basis of need
• Neutrality not favoring any side in an armed
  conflict
• Independence the autonomy of humanitarian
  objectives from political, economic, military or
  other objectives
• (ICRC)

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Assistance process

• Initial assessment
• Decide to respond
• Program design

Targeting beneficiaries

• Key Sectors
• Shelter
• Food Nutrition
• Health Care
• Water
• Sanitation
• Security
• protection

Fundraising
implementation

• Agreements to work with
• local organizations
• Establish offices
• operations

Project monitoring, reporting, Evaluation ?
closure
Procurement logistics
Finance, personnel, administration
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HOW NGOS ARE ORGANIZED

• Work internationally with headquarters in one
  country-IMC, IRC
• With many national chapters with independent
  field organizations- WVI
• (Natsios, 1995)

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HOW NGOS ARE ORGANIZED

• Create national fundraising offices, raise pool
  their funds through single field organizations.
  Field offices indigenous staffed and managed e.g.
  WVI
• Work only through indigenous local
  organizations-no independent operational capacity
  in the fieldOXFAM US
• (Natsios, 1995)

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The UN System

• UN Organizations in complex emergencies
• The Office of the United Nations High
  Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• World Food Program (WFP)
• The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF)
• United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
• United Nations Office for the Coordination of
  Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

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http//www.un.org/aboutun/chart.html
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The International Red Cross System

• Founded in 1863
• International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
• National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
• The International Committee of the Red Cross
  (ICRC) works around the world on a strictly
  neutral and impartial basis to protect and assist
  people affected by armed conflicts and internal
  disturbances
• Reunites families separated by war
• Protects prisoners of war

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Response funding flows
General public Donor countries
DONOR AGENCIES
International NGOs
UN agencies

• Red Cross movement
• ICRC, Intl federation
• national societies

General public -recipient countries

• News media
• Academic inst.
• Private cont.
• Military
• Intl defense
• Forces

Recipient country National Red Cross/ Red
Crescent societies
Govt. agencies
Local NGOs
Affected population
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SOME POST CONFLICT INITIATIVES

• Human rights
• Election monitoring
• Training in all sectors
• Rehabilitation for basic national infrastructure
• Monitoring returning civil administration
  police force
• Repatriation and demobilization of armed
  factions, and disposal of their weapons
• Explosive mine removal

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FUNDING

• Humanitarian Aid
• Primary aim is to
• prevent
• human casualties and
• ensuring access to the
• basics of survival
• Water, sanitation, food
• shelter health care

• Development Assistance
• External development
• assistance to
• reconstruct a
• countrys infrastructure,
• institutions and
• economy in
• the aftermath of war.
• Also important to prevent further conflict

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Funding

• Total humanitarian assistance
• 1970390 million
• 20036.9 billion

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Issues challenges with humanitarian aid

• Efficiency, effectiveness
• Lack of access - security issues
• Beneficiaries located within in-accessible
  conflict zones
• Aid reaches only accessible areas
• Lack of coordination-
• Duplication of services
• Agencies do not share information
• Competition

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Issues challenges with humanitarian aid

• Political dilemmas
• Unequal response by intl community
• Imported food can undermine the local economy
  make activities like agriculture less profitable
• Governments may refuse to allow aid in the
  country sovereignty
• Dilemmas of neutrality

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Issues challenges with humanitarian aid

• Lack of accountability
• More accountable to their boards donors-less to
  the beneficiaries
• Beneficiaries have no way to register
  dissatisfaction or complaints
• No barriers to becoming an NGO no comprehensive
  enforceable standards
• Code of conduct by ICRC (1994)
• The Sphere standards (2002 2004)

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Issues challenges with humanitarian aid

• Budgeting issues
• High staff salaries admin costs rather than
  intended recipients of aid
• High staff turnover
• ? Institutional memory to implement lessons
  learned improve efficiency
• Short term projects

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Issues challenges with humanitarian aid

• Competition for humanitarian market share
• NGOs need to maintain a high profilefunding
• Cannot afford NOT TO BE SEEN AT A DISASTER
• Ambulance chasing the more dramatic the event,
  the greater the media coverage the greater the
  fundraising

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Issues challenges with humanitarian aid

• Interference in local economy
• Restaurants, brothels etc spring up as soon as
  humanitarian operations begin, high rents
• Use of expatriates in developing
  countriesnecessary?
• NGOs pay high salaries for educated and capable
  local populations --compared to government
  counterparts
• Lack of cultural sensitivity

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Issues challenges with humanitarian aid

• Aid can prolong and fuel conflicts
• private incentive for continuation of war
• Political taxation of aid
• when administered without social political
  sensitivity
• politically and ethnically neutral
• organizational dynamics of NGOs donors not
  geared to dealing with deeply divided societies
• Inadequate funding mechanisms
• Most donors award funding yearlydifficult to plan

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WHAT CAN WE DO?Discussion

• Educate donors
• Training of NGO workers
• Establish standards of operations
• Sphere
• code of conduct
• Accountability
• National governments to take more responsibility

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Some Good Links

• http//www.reliefweb.int
• ReliefWeb is the global hub for time-critical
  humanitarian information on Complex Emergencies
  and Natural Disasters
• http//www.internal-displacement.org
• The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
  (IDMC), established in 1998 by the Norwegian
  Refugee Council (NRC), is the leading
  international body monitoring conflict-induced
  internal displacement worldwide.
• http//www.unhcr.ch/
• http//www.interaction.org/
• The largest alliance of US based humanitarian
  organizations
• http//www.irinnews.org/
• IRIN's principal role is to provide news and
  analysis about sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle
  East and Central Asia for the humanitarian
  community.

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The End Asante-Thank You