Urban vulnerability and displacement: a review of current issues

Urban displacement is frequently portrayed as a new and unfamiliar dilemma for the humanitarian sector, yet broad awareness of its characteristics and challenges has been developing since the 1970s. In the past decade, however, there has been greater attention to, and recognition of, the implications of rapid urbanisation in the developing world. This has led to some policy development and a mounting body of NGO (non-governmental organisation) and think-tank literature on the topic. Assuming displacement to be a key lens on urban vulnerability more broadly, this paper presents an overview of the historical development of debates on urban displacement since the 1970s. Drawing examples from the contributions in this special issue of Disasters, as well as from other sources of information on recent humanitarian responses in various contexts, it assesses the ramifications of urban vulnerability for humanitarian practitioners. The paper contends that the humanitarian sector has failed to galvanise on the issue, and has struggled therefore to employ existing knowledge and to adapt practice.     

Ethical Codes in Humanitarian Emergencies: From Practice to Research?

Notable strides have been made in recent years to develop codes of conduct for humanitarian intervention in conflicts on the part of international NGOs and UN organisations. Yet engagement by the academic and broader research communities with humanitarian crises and ongoing complex political emergencies remains relatively ad hoc and unregulated beyond the basic ethical guidelines and norms developed within universities for research in general, and within the governing and representative bodies of particular academic disciplines. This paper draws on a case study of research on humanitarian assistance to Liberia during that country's civil war from 1989 to 1996. The difficulties faced by humanitarian agencies in Liberia led to the development of two key sets of ethical guidelines for humanitarian intervention: the Joint Policy of Operations (JPO) and Principles and Policies of Humanitarian Operations (PPHO). This paper seeks to address what lessons, if any, these ethical guidelines, together with different experiences of conducting research in war-torn Liberia, can provide in terms of the role of academic researchers--and research itself--in humanitarian crises.     

The moral sense of humanitarian actors: an empirical exploration

This paper examines humanitarianism's moral positioning above private and political interests to save lives and alleviate suffering. It does not aim to assess the legitimacy of this stance, but rather to probe the way in which humanitarian actors relate to this moral dimension in their everyday work. It investigates empirically humanitarian ethics from the perspective of humanitarian actors, drawing on interviews conducted in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2014. As it is exploratory, three key conceptual innovations were required. The first of these is the introduction of the tools developed to consider a neglected reality: humanitarian actors’ ‘moral sense’ vis‐à‐vis the humanitarian sector's ‘moral culture’. Second, the study shows how the sector's moral culture is structured around the notion of ‘concern for persons in need’. Third, it analyses the way in which the sector and its actors handle the asymmetrical relationships encountered daily. Ultimately this paper seeks to valorise humanitarian actors’ creativity in their common practices and explore potential challenges to it.     

Hope Suspended: Morality, Politics and War in Central Africa

The Great Lakes tragedy from 1994—8 has demonstrated the impact of a new consensus in favour of conditional relief for the protection and assistance of disaster victims. This paper attempts to catalogue the failures of the international humanitarian community, African leaders and donor governments to act effectively in defence of humanitarian principles throughout the crisis. The paper places special emphasis on the events in eastern Zaire during 1996—7 that have, so far, received limited treatment, and, it contends, led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.
The paper argues that the new orthodoxy of developmental relief, as adopted by UN and NGO humanitarian agencies in the Great Lakes, has acted more in support of the geopolitical and economic agendas of Northern governments and African leaders than in defence of disaster victims. The paper points out that the evidence of the Great Lakes tragedy suggests that the adoption of these approaches has sanctioned the abandonment of ideas about universal rights of protection for non-combatants at the moment when they are most at risk, with catastrophic results for those most vulnerable to abuse.     

The academic medical centre and nongovernmental organisation partnership following a natural disaster

The global response to the 12 January 2010 earthquake in Haiti revealed the ability to mobilise medical teams quickly and effectively when academic medical centres partner non-governmental organisations (NGO) that already have a presence in a zone of devastation. Most established NGOs based in a certain region are accustomed to managing the medical conditions that are common to that area and will need additional and specialised support to treat the flux of myriad injured persons. Furthermore, an NGO with an established presence in a region prior to a disaster appears better positioned to provide sustained recovery and rehabilitation relief. Academic medical centres can supply these essential specialised resources for a prolonged time. This relationship between NGOs and academic medical centres should be further developed prior to another disaster response. This model has great potential with regard to the rapid preparation and worldwide deployment of skilled medical and surgical teams when needed following a disaster, as well as to the subsequent critical recovery phase.     

The politics of NGO registration in international protectorates: the cases of Bosnia and Iraq

Following international interventions in Bosnia-Herzegovina(1) and Iraq, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have played a central role in delivering humanitarian relief, encouraging participation in new systems of government, and advocating on behalf of marginalised groups. Although intervening agencies have framed such autonomous organisations as unquestionably virtuous, scholars have increasingly questioned the agency of NGOs, pointing to the constraining effects of funding and regulatory mechanisms. This paper contributes to this body of work by offering a detailed examination of legislation requiring NGOs to register with nascent state institutions. Drawing on case study material from Bosnia and Iraq, it argues that NGO registration should not be dismissed as a technical or legal matter, but that it should be embraced as a significant political practice embedded in relations of power. Registration legislation has increased the transparency of NGO funding origins and institutional practices, yet it has simultaneously acted as a barrier to smaller organisations and led to the transmission of international objectives through civil society entities.     

Dividing disasters in Aceh, Indonesia: separatist conflict and tsunami, human rights and humanitarianism

This paper examines the interface between human rights and humanitarian action in the context of the conflict and tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia, between 1998 and 2007. It looks at the challenges international humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) faced as they engaged in human rights work in the conflict period and in conflict-related activities in the post-tsunami period. The paper argues that many large NGOs may have compromised what some would hold to be essential principles for humanitarian action because of domestic political concerns, donor restrictions and resistance among certain NGO chiefs. In contrast with the pre-tsunami period, in which NGOs worked for years amid military operations, in the post-tsunami period NGOs were decidedly apolitical, neglecting the conflict in their tsunami response--despite significant developments that permitted greater political engagement in Aceh's post-conflict transformation. The evidence suggests that NGOs are challenged in contextualising humanitarian responses and that there is a need to underscore donor flexibility and independence in humanitarian action.     

Humanitarian emergencies and military help: some conceptual observations

In 1988 the International Peace Academy, New York, sponsored a study exploring the interface between security and the delivery of humanitarian aid. The aim was to evaluate the possible use of military help to support humanitarian relief workers during armed conflicts. As part of this pioneering work, the authors of this paper discuss the conceptual questions that must be raised before dealing with the associated practical difficulties. It examines those circumstances in which foreign military organizations might offer help in humanitarian emergencies; the nature of contemporary examples of humanitarian need that result in international responses; and the importance of factors which affect how these are perceived. The paper then analyses the pertinent functions that military units might undertake and finally examines the constraints that would apply if such forces were to become involved.     

Shelter strategies, humanitarian praxis and critical urban theory in post-crisis reconstruction

The paper seeks to link contemporary thinking on urban shelter in the humanitarian sector to debates in the field of 'critical urban theory'. It argues that current humanitarian thinking on urban shelter shares many common concerns with critical urban theory, but that these concerns are rarely translated effectively into humanitarian practice. It attributes this disconnect not only to weaknesses in implementation capacity, but also to the need to reorient humanitarian action to address more definitively questions of power and justice. Humanitarian actors need to step back from product-delivery approaches and find ways of integrating into their analytical, planning, implementation and monitoring tools questions about access, exclusion and the historically specific ways in which these aspects converge in particular urban spaces. By doing so, the humanitarian community would benefit from a more explicit, systematic and sustained engagement with the catalytic theoretical resources that critical urban theory has to offer.     

International NGOs and the role of network centrality in humanitarian aid operations: a case study of coordination during the 2000 Mozambique floods

In February 2000, Mozambique suffered its worst flooding in almost 50 years: 699 people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced. Over 49 countries and 30 international non-governmental organisations provided humanitarian assistance. Coordination of disaster assistance is critical for effective humanitarian aid operations, but limited attention has been directed toward evaluating the system-wide structure of inter-organisational coordination during humanitarian operations. Network analysis methods were used to examine the structure of inter-organisational relations among 65 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in the flood operations in Mozambique. Centrality scores were used to estimate NGO-specific potential for aid coordination and tested against NGO beneficiary numbers. The average number of relief- and recovery-period beneficiaries was significantly greater for NGOs with high relative to low centrality scores (p < 0.05). This report addresses the significance of these findings in the context of the Mozambican 2000 floods and the type of data required to evaluate system-wide coordination.     

'Scaling-up' in emergencies: British NGOs after Hurricane Mitch

This article examines research on NGO 'scaling-up' in a disaster context and links it to a broader discussion on whether scaling-up is a useful concept for understanding NGO processes in an emergency. Using concepts of scaling-up from development literature, research findings from a study of the responses of British NGOs to Hurricane Mitch in Central America are presented. The article assesses the extent and type of scaling-up that occurred, constraints faced by the agencies and the impact of scaling-up on support to partners. Broader issues relating to scaling-up post-Mitch are also explored. The conclusion suggests that while the concept of scaling-up is useful, the tendency for its use to refer to organisational growth has limited a wider understanding and evaluation of the role of Northern NGOs in humanitarian crises.     

Cruel Wars and Safe Havens: Humanitarian Aid in Liberia 1989–1996

This article considers the role of military intervention by peace-keeping and peace-enforcement troops in the provision of humanitarian aid to Liberia during the armed conflicts of the past seven years. The article focuses on the role of the de facto safe haven which peace-keeping and enforcing troops protected in Liberia between 1990 and 1996 and puts the Liberian case in the context of the growing debate about the usefulness of military interventions in humanitarian emergencies. It argues that the safe haven has enabled significant humanitarian acheivements but has also demonstrated fundamental failures. Central to these failures have been the absence of consent, under-resourcing and a loss of control of the safe haven to factional interests.     

The professional humanitarian and the downsides of professionalisation

Criticisms lodged at humanitarian relief often include the belief that professionalisation is needed. The problems associated with humanitarianism would end, it is assumed, if the delivery of aid, and relief workers themselves, were more professional and ‘business like’. To explore this further, the paper asks what comprises a profession, and offers four criteria: 1) specialisation of knowledge; 2) establishment of the profession as a livelihood; 3) organisation and institutionalisation; and 4) legitimacy and authority. A model for understanding professionalisation, as developed by the author, is then presented. The analysis compares six other professions against the same criteria to argue that the humanitarian community already constitutes a profession. Finally, three potential downsides of professionalisation are offered: the distance of the relief worker from the beneficiary, barriers to entry into the humanitarian sector, and adding to risk aversion and a decline in innovation. Based on these findings, professionalisation should be approached with some caution.     

Coordination in theory,coordination in practice: the case of the Clusters

The atomised nature of the humanitarian system has led to frequent and repeated attempts to coordinate humanitarian activity. Since 2005, some of the best resourced, and arguably most successful, coordination mechanisms have been the humanitarian Clusters, groups of UN (United Nations) and non‐UN actors that engage in sectoral coordination of humanitarian response (such as the provision of healthcare and water) at the global and country level. Nevertheless, it is not clear exactly what ‘coordination’ means in the context of a Cluster. Formal guidance suggests that they should be aiming to create a single, joint strategy to guide the activities of members. Actual experience of the Clusters, however, indicates that looser forms of coordination are more effective. This finding resonates with organisational theory, and with the experience of emergency management professionals beyond the international humanitarian sector. To capitalise fully on the success of the Clusters, policymakers may need to rethink their attitudes to, and expectations of, coordination.     

Apples, Pears and Porridge: The Origins and Impact of the Search for 'Coherence' between Humanitarian and Political Responses to Chronic Political Emergencies

During the 1990s a consensus emerged within the international humanitarian system that there was a need to enhance the 'coherence' between humanitarian and political responses to complex political emergencies. Closer integration between aid and political responses was seen to be necessary in order to address the root causes of conflict-induced crises, and to ensure that aid did not exacerbate political tensions. This paper explores the theory and practice of coherence over the past decade. It argues that, by sleight of hand, the coherence agenda has been reinterpreted such that humanitarian action has become the primary form of political action, rather than merely a substitute for it. The coherence agenda has been driven by geopolitical events, domestic policy considerations in donor countries and the more parochial concerns of aid policy, and is reflected in a number of substantive changes in the humanitarian architecture. Many of the tenets of this 'new humanitarianism' have been embraced by the majority of relief agencies, and thus legitimised it. The paper concludes that political humanitarianism, as opposed to active engagement by political and military actors, is flawed ethically and technically. It will provide neither an effective palliative for the ill effects of war, nor address its causes.     

Between war and peace: humanitarian assistance in violent urban settings

Cities are fast becoming new territories of violence. 1 The humanitarian consequences of many criminally violent urban settings are comparable to those of more traditional wars, yet despite the intensity of the needs, humanitarian aid to such settings is limited. The way in which humanitarian needs are typically defined, fails to address the problems of these contexts, the suffering they produce and the populations affected. Distinctions between formal armed conflicts, regulated by international humanitarian law, and other violent settings, as well as those between emergency and developmental assistance, can lead to the neglect of populations in distress. It can take a lot of time and effort to access vulnerable communities and implement programmes in urban settings, but experience shows that it is possible to provide humanitarian assistance with a significant focus on the direct and indirect health consequences of violence outside a traditional conflict setting. This paper considers the situation of Port‐au‐Prince (Haiti), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Guatemala City (Guatemala).     

Privatisation and outsourcing in wartime: the humanitarian challenges

The tendency today to privatise many activities hitherto considered the exclusive preserve of the state has given rise to sharp debate. The specific nature of humanitarian emergencies elucidates in particularly stark contrast some of the main challenges connected to the privatisation and outsourcing of essential public services, such as the provision of drinking water and health care. Privatising the realms of defence and security, which are at the very core of state prerogative, raises several legal and humanitarian concerns. This article focuses on the roles and responsibilities of the various parties involved in armed conflicts, especially those of private companies engaged in security, intelligence and interrogation work, and in the provision of water supply and health services. It highlights the need for humanitarian and development actors to grasp better the potential risks and opportunities related to privatisation and outsourcing with a view to supplying effective protection and assistance to communities affected by war.     

Living with transience in high-risk humanitarian spaces: the gendered experiences of international staff and policy implications for building resilience

Deployment in a crisis zone is a perilous undertaking. Little is known right now about how humanitarian workers relate social and professional goals to lived experiences of high-risk environments. In South Sudan, ranked as the most dangerous country globally for aid workers, 20 international humanitarian staff were interviewed to examine their sense of place, well-being, and vocation, using thematic and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Subjectivities of humanitarian space hinged upon negotiating physical hardships and social relationships: Juba, the capital, was described as a ‘prison’ and a ‘party hotspot’. For expatriate staff, making sense of spatial, social, and professional transience was sharply gendered and rooted in the subjectivities of risk-taking, crisis management, and career-building. Two policy measures are highlighted here to address the implications of transience for human well-being and organisational effectiveness. Efforts to support teams and structure work environments, altering the humanitarian and vocational bubble, will help to develop resilience at the heart of humanitarian systems.     

Protecting people in cities: the disturbing case of Haiti

Humanitarian actors have sought increasingly not only to assist people affected by natural disasters but also to protect them. This paper examines the efforts of international humanitarian actors to protect Haitians affected by the devastating earthquake of 12 January 2010. It begins with an analysis of the particular difficulties of conceptualising and operationalising protection in an urban environment and traces the efforts of international actors on the ground to develop appropriate protection strategies. The particular difficulties of working with camps and spontaneous settlements in urban areas are explored as are the challenges that stemmed from working with different levels of governmental authorities and a multitude of humanitarian actors. The paper concludes by highlighting some of the lessons learned from the successes and failures of international protection efforts in Haiti. It is hoped that these may assist future efforts to protect people living in urban environments.     

Working with states to build competence in disaster response

This paper examines the relationship between national disaster response authorities and the international humanitarian community through case studies in three countries where it is generally agreed that good working relations exist. It seeks to understand the common phenomena which led to those good relations. The paper takes as its premise that the international humanitarian aid community, bruised by its experience in non-functioning and predatory states, has developed an unhelpful aversion to cooperation with, and working through, local government. It posits that in a future with climate change, disasters will be more frequent and this requires a necessary shift, on the part of international agencies and local government from seeing disaster response as exceptional and interventionist to viewing it as a standard part of sovereign duty and normalcy. The study highlights a number of common features across the three case studies which shed light on why disaster response has been transformed in the study countries.