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Humanitarian Governance
Laura HammondDept of Development Studies, SOAS
SOAS/Mo Ibrahim Foundation Residential School on Governance & Development
March 2015
What is Humanitarian Governance? How does it relate to other aspects of governance you’ve been studying this week.
Responsibility to Protect – expectations of the state & humanitarian organisations
Accountability – where does it come from? Changes in, and challenges of,
humanitarian governance
Outline of the Session
Rules, structures & mechanisms for promoting accountable & effective humanitarian practice, including prevention, mitigation, management, response, & recovery from disasters of all types.
◦ Actors: states (at all levels) but also regional bodies, LNGOs, INGOs, donors, UN agencies, etc.
Focus on saving lives, alleviating suffering
How can this be done most efficiently, with fewest adverse effects – how does it affect other forms of governance?
Humanitarian Governance Defined
Community Rep
NGO (health)
NGO (wat/san)
NGO (education)
NGO (food)
UN agencies– funding,
coordination, protection
ICRC/Red Cross
Host Government Security, appeal for help,
Regulation, some coordination
Community Rep
Community Rep
NGO NGO
Rapid onset disasters – ◦ floods, storms, earthquakes, tsunami,
communicable disease epidemics Slow onset disaster
◦ drought, climate change effects, chronic disease at epidemic levels
Complex emergencies ◦ conflict, state failure, often overlaid with natural
disaster
- Usually these three are interrelated
Humanitarian Responses to...
http://fts.unocha.org/pageloader.aspx?page=Trend-TrendAnalysis
How much Humanitarian Aid Does your Country Receive?
what is their reputation? what kind of relationship do they
have with the state? with local people?
How would you describehumanitarian actors in your country?
Q.
Do they engage directly –including channelling funds through government?
Does the state facilitate or constrain humanitarian action?
How is the state seen by humanitarian actors in your country?
Q.
1970s-80s: donors gave through direct payment to the state, even balance of payments support (Harvey 2009). INGOs were peripheral
1990s: shift to support through NGOs, Red Cross/Crescent. Donors assumed states were too weak or corrupt to handle aid themselves
2000s: resurgence in interest in direct assistance – recognition of increasing state capacity, though tied to conditionality
◦ Emphasis on national ownership
State-Donor relations through history
State has the first ‘Responsibility to Protect’ – Sovereignty has obligations and rights
State ideally should be able to respond to risks/disasters on its own
Where it requires assistance, it should be able to coordinate, approve intervention plans, see and approve budgets, and evaluate (or see evaluations) of external activities
International norms & legal instruments can be used to back up national responsibility
Role of the State
Role of Humanitarian/Development Organisations Provide protection &
life-saving assistance if state cannot or will not
Under IHL, states must, if they are unable or unwilling to assist civilians, grant access to an organisation ‘like the ICRC’. ◦ Doesn’t mean that all
NGOs have a right to access
HOs provide lens into how state and non-state actors inter-relate
Independence, Neutrality, Impartiality are Key to preserving access usually
◦ HOs must choose between capacity building, service substitution, advocacy (& sometimes denunciation)
◦ Where states do not uphold social contract, IOs often see it as their role to speak out
But adherence to principles may result in distance between HOs and govt
Other humanitarians work for justice, equity, empowerment – these may be at odds with principles
How to work?
Strong response can provide a political boost for states, slow can undermine them
Conditionality is now regularly used to guide political policy
Humanitarian assistance used for state-building, hearts & minds
Humanitarian principles often used only with regard to humanitarian action & not development
Politics of Humanitarian Governance
Without regulation/registration, international organisations are not likely to self-regulate
◦ Some accountability mechanisms: Humanitarian Accountability Partnership, Red Cross Code of Conduct, Sphere Guidelines, etc.
Coordination problems
But state regulation of humanitarian governance can also be used as a way of maintaining control over citizens, restricting LNGO activities, curtailing human rights
The accountability vacuum
Changes/Challenges Role of China as an
Economic Partner
‘Emergent’ donor countries – Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE
Increasing role of Diaspora in funding, providing humanitarian assistance
Faith-based humanitarianism (arguably not new, but its role is increasingly recognized)
Humanitarian (& Development) Governance part of wider governance debates
Contradiction: provide support to government but preserve independence to be able to protect those who need it
Humanitarian space can be a ‘black hole’ of accountability but can also shine light on where state has failed vis. Accountability
Improving humanitarian practice comes from promoting accountability, vibrancy of non-state actor sectors
Conclusions