Humanitarianism Sacrificed: Integration's False Promise

Ethics and International Affairs

Volumn 18, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 3-12

  de Torrenté, Nicolas ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 34248051234     PISSN: 08926794     EISSN: 17477093     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-7093.2004.tb00461.x     Document Type: Article

References (19)

1. David Bryer, “Politics and Humanitarianism: Coherence in Crisis?” Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, February 2003, p. 11; available at www.hdcentre.org/datastore/files/pandh.pdf.
2. Tim Poletti, Healthcare Financing in Complex Emergencies: A Background Issues Paper on Cost-Sharing, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, November 2003.
3. Médecins Sans Frontières, Access to Health Care in Burundi: Results of Three Epidemiological Surveys; available at www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/reports/2004/burundi_2004.pdf. The introduction of a lower, “all-inclusive flat fee” in MSF programs to mitigate the impact of full cost recovery also resulted in almost 10% of the population being excluded from health care.
4. On Angola, see Médecins Sans Frontières, “Angolans Left to Die: Abandoning the Humanitarian Imperative,” October 2003; available at www.doctorswithoutborders.org.
5. See Nicolas de Torrenté,”Humanitarian Action under Attack: Reflections on the Iraq War,” Harvard Human Rights Journal 17 (Spring 2004), pp. 1–30.
6. One leaflet pictured an Afghan girl carrying a bag of wheat and read: “Pass on any information related to Taliban, Al Qaeda and Gulbaddin to the coalition forces in order to have a continuation of the provision of humanitarian aid.” Another leaflet read: “Any attacks on coalition forces hinder humanitarian aid from reaching your areas.” See Kenny Gluck, “Coalition Forces Endanger Humanitarian Action in Afghanistan”; available at www.msf.org/countries/page.cfm?articleid=409F102DA77A-4C94–89E0A47D7213B4D5.
7. See Médecins Sans Frontières, “Doctors Without Borders Shocked by Killing of 5 Staff in Afghanistan,” press release, June 3, 2004; available at www.doctorswithoutborders.org/pr/2004/06–03–2004.shtml.
8. Jean-Hervé Bradol, “The Sacrificial International Order and Humanitarian Action,” in Fabrice Weissman, ed., In the Shadow of ‘Just'Wars’: Violence, Politics, and Humanitarian Action (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2004), p. 5.
9. See Mary B. Anderson, Do No Harm: How Aid Can Support Peace—or War (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1999). Anderson does argue that aid is good, and that her focus is not on removing it but on making it better. However, there is little discussion of how a potential conflict of interest between peace promotion and immediate relief should be handled, opening the door for interpretations that promote minimizing or even withholding aid in order to “do no harm.”
10. See Ian Smillie and Larry Minear, “The Quality of Money: Donor Behavior in Humanitarian Financing,” Humanitarianism and War Project, April 2003
11. James Darcy and Charles-Antoine Hoffman, “Humanitarian Needs Assessment and Decision-Making,” Overseas Development Institute, September 2003; available at www.odi.org.uk/hpg/papers/hpgbrief13.pdf.
12. Bryer, “Politics and Humanitarianism,” p. 13.
13. Bradol, “The Sacrificial International Order and Humanitarian Action,” p. 16.
14. “The Sacrificial International Order and Humanitarian Action,”, p. 18.
15. See, e.g., Médecins Sans Frontières, “Left Without a Choice—Chechens Forced to Return to Chechnya,” May 2003; available at www.doctorswithoutborders.org/pr/2003/05–06–2003.shtml.
16. See, e.g.,Paul O'Brien, “Politicized Humanitarianism: A Response to Nicolas de Torrenté,” Harvard Human Rights Journal 17 (Spring 2004), pp. 31–41.
17. On the approach of aid organizations, in particular U.S.-based NGOs, toward the U.S. government before and during the war in Iraq, see De Torrenté, “Humanitarian Action under Attack,” pp. 1–30.
18. See, e.g., O'Brien, “Politicized Humanitarianism.”
19. For arguments in favor of a “variable”humanitarianism, see Hugo Slim, “A Call to Arms: Humanitarian Action and the Art of War” (Geneva: Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, February 2004)