Military Intervention and Humanitarian Action: Trends and Issues

An important trend in military doctrine for so-called 'peace support operations' has been to place them on a spectrum that includes coercion and enforcement. This paper focuses on British writers of doctrine as those responsible for driving the debate forward and forging a consensus among leading military powers. Their discourse is combat oriented, a fact reinforced by a trend towards strategic subcontracting to coalitions of the militarily willing and able. At the same time, there has been a move to institutionalise the involvement of military forces in relief, peace building and development activities. The overall emphasis is on stability and security to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian relief and to establish the conditions for peace-building processes. In the case of Bosnia, this involves conditionality and economic leverage. Although there is a long-established record of peace-keeping forces engaging in goodwill activities (with mixed results), the current trends contain contradictions that seem likely to contribute to the widely perceived erosion of classical humanitarian principles.     

In Defence of Humanitarianism

The humanitarian crisis which followed in the wake of the genocidal regime in Rwanda in 1994 generated massive media attention and an unprecedented outpouring of international public and private assistance. In late 1997, the Rwanda refugee population in Zaire was subjected to a disaster of similarly epic proportions as a result of military action. Yet this crisis went relatively under-reported and failed to attract substantial aid funds, particularly from official donors. This paper seeks to document and account for the demise of the humanitarian imperative. It confronts a number of the criticisms of humanitarian action, concluding that, rather than being flawed, traditional humanitarian values remain valid and should be defended wherever there are situations of conflict.     

对外援助能促进能源对外直接投资吗?——来自中国企业的微观证据

使用由多个数据库链接的微观数据,对中国对外援助能否促进中国企业的能源对外直接投资（Outward Foreign Direct Investment,OFDI）决策进行计量检验,结果发现：中国在东道国的援助活动显著增大了中国企业对东道国进行能源OFDI的概率,且当年援助的投资促进效应大于累计援助的促进效应,该结果在多种模型设定下均表现稳健;进一步检验中,研究发现中国对外援助对能源OFDI的促进效应在援助形式、用途和国家类别上存在广泛异质性,其中复合化和高级化的援助形式如技术援助和出口信贷,直接用于经济基础设施、能源产业发展、东道国政府财政的援助,以及援助“一带一路”沿线国家更能激发中国对外援助的能源OFDI促进效应。本文为中国对外援助能够带动中国能源OFDI提供了直接的微观证据,也为如何发挥对外援助的能源OFDI驱动效应提供了有益启示。     

委任消防部队参与院前急救的措施

就现行体制下,分析了消防部队参与灾难和事故时危重伤员的院前医护急救的可行性和好处,提出了消防部队参与院前医护急救的模式,并探讨了消防部队参与院前医护急救所需要解决的技能培训、人员编制、装备配置和经费保障等问题.     

纳米SiO2对含十二烷基苯磺酸钠微污染原水的助凝特性

以含微污染有机物——十二烷基苯磺酸钠(SDBS)的高岭土悬浊液为研究对象,投加聚合氯化铝(PAC)与纳米SiO₂,借助在线显微摄像技术与分形理论,探讨了纳米SiO₂作为水处理剂的絮凝作用、助凝效果以及形态学特性.结果表明:①PAC与纳米SiO₂单独使用时,PAC对无机高岭土颗粒去除效果好;而纳米SiO₂对去除SDBS有利. ②仅投加PAC,当pH为10时,SDBS去除率低于4%;当pH为5～6时,SDBS去除率可达50%. ③不同pH下将纳米SiO₂与PAC联用,SDBS去除率显著提高;以纳米SiO₂为助凝剂,偏酸性环境有利于SDBS的去除,当pH为5时,SDBS去除率可达75%.④中性条件下,在PAC与纳米SiO₂投加量比值为3时,纳米SiO₂的助凝效果最优;纳米SiO₂宜在投加PAC后40 s时加入,絮体粒径大、结构强大、沉降性能好、分形维数值大、剩余浊度低,SDBS去除率高.      

Changing tracks as situations change: humanitarian and health response along the Liberia–Côte d'Ivoire border

In recent years, protracted crises and fragile post‐conflict settings have challenged the co‐existence, and even the linear continuum, of relief and development aid. Forced migration has tested humanitarian and development paradigms where sudden‐onset emergencies, violence and displacement arise alongside ongoing development work. Drawing on Médecins Sans Frontières interventions in the region from December 2010 to May 2011, this paper examines aid and healthcare responses to displacement in Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia; it focuses on challenges to the maintenance of preparedness for such foreseeable emergencies and to adaptation in response to changing situations of displacement and insecurity. This ‘backsliding’ from development to emergency remains a substantial challenge to aid; yet, in exactly such cases, it also presents the opportunity to ensure access to medical care that is much more urgently needed in times of crisis, including the suspension of user fees for medical care.     

Formal and informal material aid following the 2010 Haiti earthquake as reported by camp dwellers

Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, more than two million people moved to temporary camps, most of which arose spontaneously in the days after the earthquake. This study focuses on the material assistance people in five Port‐au‐Prince camps reported receiving, noting the differences between assistance from formal aid agencies and from ‘informal’ sources such as family. Seven weeks after the earthquake, 32% of camp dwellers reported receiving no assistance whatsoever; 55% had received formal aid, typically a tent or tarpaulins; and 40% had received informal aid, usually in the form of cash transfers from family living abroad. While people were grateful for any material aid, cash was more frequently considered timely and more effective than aid‐in‐kind. Should this study be indicative of the greater displaced population, aid agencies should consider how they might make better use of cash transfers as an aid modality.     

Epidemiological assessment of food aid in the Bosnian conflict, 1994-97

Surveys in emergency settings are important for the accountability of food aid. Four household surveys conducted between 1994 and 1997 measured the performance of the Bosnia food aid programme, covering a random sample of clusters in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republica Srpska. The team calculated coverage, exclusion and inclusion errors, programme misses, and under-supply. Despite intended universal coverage from 1994-96, 15, 19, and 31 per cent, respectively, did not receive food across the three-year time frame. Households categorised as vulnerable were somewhat more likely to receive food. Programme misses were rare, whereas under-supply fell from 30 per cent in 1994 to four per cent in 1997, as the availability of other food increased. Extrapolation suggested that 61 per cent of the food distributed did not reach households. The programme introduced priority categories for targeting in 1997, yet nearly one-half of the highest priority households did not receive food. Incomplete coverage and weak targeting were related to political constraints.     

The impact of the Gulf crisis on Qatar's humanitarian sector

The 2017 Gulf crisis is one of the most challenging episodes faced by Qatar since its independence in 1971, with major economic, social, and political impacts on the Arab Gulf nation. Its economic prognosis has been brought into doubt, the map of regional alliances has been redrawn, and any prospects of deeper regional integration have been dashed. This paper analyses the little-documented impact of the crisis on Qatar's humanitarian sector, which has unfolded as the small, gas-rich emirate has striven to become a major humanitarian donor. It concludes that while there have been disruptions to humanitarian operations and regional coordination, the Gulf crisis has triggered and in some cases accelerated already intended reforms across the Qatari humanitarian sector. In the long term, the reorganisation and adaptation implemented to weather the storm of the crisis may help Qatar to emerge from the crisis with a more sustainable and resilient humanitarian sector.     

典型发达国家适应气候变化资金机制及对中国的启示

气候变化是全人类面临的严峻挑战,我国受到气候变化的不利影响更为显著,加快采取雄心勃勃的适应气候变化行动显得尤为重要,但资金机制一直是我国适应进程中的主要障碍,亟须借鉴国际经验构建完善适应气候变化的资金机制。基于此,本文首先简要分析国际适应气候变化资金机制的基本情况,然后选取适应进程较为完善的美、英、德、日等典型发达国家,分别从适应政策体系、国内适应资金和国际援助资金等三个方面梳理总结各国适应气候变化资金机制,最后分析我国适应气候变化资金机制及存在的问题,并提出对我国适应气候变化资金机制的启示。研究发现,《联合国气候变化框架公约》及其气候变化国际谈判进程是各国推进适应气候变化资金机制的主要动因,发达国家重视适应政策的法制化,但政策力度和运行模式有所不同,公共部门是各国适应资金的主要来源,私人资金潜力尚待挖掘,国际气候援助注重减缓与适应并重,但援助力度有待加强。未来我国应从完善适应气候变化顶层设计、建立适应气候变化资金保障机制、提高适应气候援助力度、加强国际交流与合作等方面完善我国适应气候变化资金机制。