Abstract
This chapter provides a “practitioner’s perspective” on an aspect of the changing dynamics among the actors engaged in humanitarian response, namely disaster management actors and multilateral humanitarian aid actors. How these two groups relate to each other is symptomatic of the challenges in the international humanitarian system today, and harbinger of the changes that will take place in the next few years. A fuller understanding will be important for developing and training future humanitarian actors.
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Notes
- 1.
It is called a “practitioner’s perspective” as it is based on the observation of the author in her interaction with Members States of the United Nations and with policy makers, and in her involvement in responding to the major humanitarian crises during her tenure as Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator.
- 2.
ALNAP, the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action, is a learning and research network. Its members are key humanitarian organizations and experts from across the humanitarian sector: donors, NGOs, the Red Cross/Crescent, the UN, independents and academics.
- 3.
- 4.
Of the 37 countries covered by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Asia-Pacific Regional Office, 36 have established national disaster management authorities.
- 5.
Including, among others, Humanitarian Policy Group of the Overseas Development Institute (UK), the Feinstein International Center (US), DARA (Spain), and ALNAP (international network).
- 6.
As can be seen in the reaction to the coordination aspects, especially on clusters and humanitarian coordinators, of the Humanitarian Reform Initiative (which started in 2005) and the Transformative Agenda (started in 2010), both initiative by then Emergency Relief Coordinator.
- 7.
Civil defense generally refers to an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack and became widespread during the Cold War with the threat of nuclear weapons. Since the end of the Cold War, the focus of civil defense has largely shifted from military attack to emergencies and disasters in general.
- 8.
These tasks include: (1) warning; (2) evacuation; (3) management of shelters; (4) management of blackout measures; (5) rescue; (6) medical services, including first aid, and religious assistance; (7) fire-fighting; (8) detection and marking of danger areas; (9) decontamination and similar protective measures; (10) provision of emergency accommodation and supplies; (11) emergency assistance in the restoration and maintenance of order in distressed areas; (12) emergency repair of indispensable public utilities; (13) emergency disposal of the dead; (14) assistance in the preservation of objects essential for survival; (15) complementary activities necessary to carry out any of the tasks mentioned above, including, but not limited to, planning and organization. (Article 61, Additional Protocol I (1997), Geneva Conventions.)
- 9.
The European Union integrated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism into the European Commission’s humanitarian aid department while keeping its acronym ECHO, formerly the European Community Humanitarian Office.
- 10.
In European Commissions documents, e.g. Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Management Plan of December 2012, the two respective mandates—humanitarian assistance and civil protection—are treated as distinct. Adherence to humanitarian principles is referenced only in the case of humanitarian assistance.
- 11.
United Nation General Assembly Resolution 46/182 (1991) Strengthening of the coordination of humanitarian emergency assistance of the United Nations. Annex para 5.
- 12.
DARA is an independent international organization based in Spain that, amongst its activities, conducts humanitarian evaluations.
- 13.
The lack of recognition is primarily an issue for the international humanitarian actors. It is seldom an issue within the countries’ own jurisdiction or by their national structures. The attachment to the humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality, for the international humanitarian actor, and the concern that they would not be respected in conflict situations by the authorities, might be a possible explanation.
- 14.
“The United Nations should continue to make appropriate arrangements with interested Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to enable it to have more expeditious access, when necessary, to their emergency relief capacities, including food reserves, emergency stockpiles and personnel, as well as logistic support.” UN GA Resolution 48/182 (1991) Annex para 28.
- 15.
It noted that “The increasing preference of developing countries to respond to disasters as much as possible using national capacities and to seek support, if necessary, only from neighbouring countries within their regions may have far-reaching implications for the international humanitarian system. If this trend continues, there is a possibility that international assistance may come to be considered as a last resort …”
- 16.
OCHA and the UNDAC team provided real-time information on VirtualOSOCC. The emergency discussion was followed by emergency managers from 105 countries and organizations, 60 of whom were Governments.
- 17.
The typhoon-stricken area was in Mindanao, an area still considered to be under internal armed conflict.
- 18.
In remarks to an International Peace Institute workshop on “the Future of Humanitarian Engagement in Complex Emergencies” (New York, April 2013), the author argued that humanitarian principles are there for the self-identification of the deliverers of aid, and should not be imposed as a requirement on others, or as an evaluative standard.
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Bragg, C. (2015). Disaster Management and Multilateral Humanitarian Aid: Parallelism vs. Combined Forces. In: Gibbons, P., Heintze, HJ. (eds) The Humanitarian Challenge. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13470-3_1
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