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The future of humanitarian action: an ICRC perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2012

Claudia McGoldrick
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Abstract

The evolving global environment in which humanitarian actors operate is posing profound challenges, both in terms of the increasing complexity of major crises and their impact on affected people, and in terms of the changes within the humanitarian sector itself as it tries to respond. This article gives one perspective of what the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) considers to be some of the key challenges facing humanitarian action now and in the coming years, and how the institution aims to address these challenges while remaining faithful to its fundamental principles of impartiality, neutrality, and independence.

Type
New Threats, New Responses
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 93 , Issue 884: The future of humanitarian action , December 2011 , pp. 965 - 991
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 2012

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References

1 Jane Cocking, Humanitarian Director of Oxfam, quoted among others in BBC News, ‘Pakistan: Senior UN figure criticises response’, 23 August 2010, available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11054958 (last visited December 2011).

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3 The humanitarian action of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is specifically based on seven Fundamental Principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality. References in this article to the ‘fundamental (humanitarian) principles’ are based on this definition. For further information, see: http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/fundamental-principles-commentary-010179.htm (last visited December 2011).

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14 See ICRC, above note 11, pp. 48–52.

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16 See ICRC, above note 11, pp. 36–40.

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18 Recent research indicates the overall decline in host government respect for humanitarian principles. See Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP), The State of the Humanitarian System, 2010, available at: http://www.alnap.org/pool/files/alnap-sohs-final.pdf (last visited 10 December 2011).

19 See ICRC News Release 11/68, ‘Sri Lanka: ICRC closes its offices in the north’, 25 March 2011, available at: http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/news-release/2011/sri-lanka-news-2011-03-25.htm (last visited 12 December 2011).

20 Médecins sans Frontières argues that the humanitarian community in Afghanistan has broadly lost the acceptance of the population that is necessary for the provision of humanitarian aid. See Michael Hofman and Sophie Delauney, ‘Special report – Afghanistan: a return to humanitarian action’, March 2010, available at: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/publications/article.cfm?id=4311&cat=special-report (last visited 10 December 2011).

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22 For a discussion on the Libyan situation and the evolution of the concept ‘Responsibility to Protect’, see Bruno Pommier, ‘The use of force to protect civilians and humanitarian action. The case of Libya and beyond’, in this edition.

23 For the ‘Good Humanitarian Donorship’ initiative, see: http://www.goodhumanitariandonorship.org/ (last visited 12 December 2011). See also Andrea Binder and Claudia Meier, ‘Opportunity knocks: why non-Western donors enter humanitarianism and how to make the best of it’, in this issue.

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26 Ibid.

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28 La Liberté, 6 January and 23 May 2005. See also Paul Barbagallo, ‘Healing ways’, March 2005, available at: http://www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/article/though-misunderstood-first-doctors-without-borders-bold-decision-stop-accepting-tsunami-relief-donation-could-help-revive-public-trust-nonprofits-32313/1 (last visited December 2011).

29 For an in-depth discussion of this topic, see Patrick Meier, ‘New information technologies and their impact on the humanitarian sector’, in this issue.

30 Financial Tracking Service, available at: http://fts.unocha.org/ (last visited 10 December 2011).

31 The Humanitarian Response Review, initiated by the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and published in August 2005, included key recommendations aimed at reforming the collaborative response: namely strengthening the role and functions of Humanitarian Coordinators and improving the selection process, and the assignment of clear responsibilities to lead organizations at sector level. One outcome was the development of the ‘cluster system’; new financing mechanisms were another. See Humanitarian Response Review, available at: http://oneresponse.info/Coordination/ClusterApproach/Documents/Humanitarian%20Response%20Review.pdf (last visited 12 December 2011).

32 For a comprehensive analysis of humanitarian financing, see the Global Humanitarian Assistance website at: http://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/ (last visited 10 December 2011).

33 This question is also discussed in the joint interview by EU Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva and the ICRC's President, Dr. Jakob Kellenberger, ‘What are the future challenges for humanitarian action?’, in this issue.

34 ALNAP, above note 18, p. 7.

35 Julia Steets et al., Cluster Approach Evaluation 2 – Synthesis Report, URD and GPPi, April 2010, available at: http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/iasc/downloaddoc.aspx?docID=5269 (last visited 10 December 2011).

36 The Sphere Project: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (launched in 1997 by a group of humanitarian NGOs and the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement), http://www.sphereproject.org/.

37 IRIN, ‘Haiti: humanitarian best practice – dignity, not just digits’, 9 April 2010, available at: http://irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88752 (last visited 12 December 2011).

38 See UK Department for International Development (DFID), ‘Multilateral aid review’, 21 November 2011, available at: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/what-we-do/how-uk-aid-is-spent/a-new-direction-for-uk-aid/multilateral-aid-review/ (last visited 10 December 2011).

39 ICRC, ‘ICRC Strategy 2011–2014’, available at: http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/publication/p4050.htm (last visited December 2011).

40 Report of the Symposium organized by the ICRC and the Institut d'Etudes de Sécurité (EU), ‘Humanitarian endeavour and armed conflict: contemporary challenges’, June 2010, available at: http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/report/belgium-report-2011-07-06.htm (last visited 10 December 2011).

41 See F. Terry, above note 21, p. 7.

42 See the website of the ‘Global Pulse’, available at: http://www.unglobalpulse.org/ (last visited 10 December 2011).

43 See, for example, ‘Untangling early recovery’, Policy Brief No. 38, Humanitarian Policy Group/Overseas Development Institute, October 2009, available at: http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/docs/5309.pdf (last visited December 2011).

44 Harroff-Tavel, Marion, ‘Do wars ever end? The work of the International Committee of the Red Cross when the guns fall silent’, in International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 85, No. 851, September 2003, pp. 465–496CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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